孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
答姚怤见寄
After meeting with Yao Fu
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日月不同光 昼夜各有宜 贤哲不苟合 出处亦待时 |
Sun and moon have different gleams. Day and night each have their places. The wise are careful in their associations. Leaving and taking office have their times. |
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而我独迷见 意求异士知 如将舞鹤管 误向惊凫吹 |
You saw me lonely and confused, Thinking I could ask for another's wisdom, Like wanting to pipe for the dancing cranes, Only to frighten the wild ducks away. |
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大雅难具陈 正声易漂沦 君有丈夫泪 泣人不泣身 |
Great elegance is hard to realize. Right voices are soon washed away. You weep a brave man's tears, Crying for others and not for yourself. |
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行吟楚山玉 义泪沾衣巾 |
Chanting as we walked the hills of Chu, Righteous tears stained our clothes. |
-- 孟郊
废话
Whoever Yao Fu was, Meng Jiao looked up to him for wisdom. Wisdom isn't a word you hear anymore. It's as if all the wisdom has been washed out of the world.
"Wise" has been replaced by "smart" which is an abbreviation for "has lots of money." Tantrum-throwing technologists and crude real-estate developers are "smart." And they say the opposite of "smart" is "stupid," implying that if you don't have lots of money, you have only your own diminished mental capacity to blame.
Some of us still cry righteous tears.
This poem makes me wonder if there was a story about a man who went to play his flute for the dancing cranes and only succeeded in frightening the ducks away.