孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
列仙文金母飞空歌
List of the Immortals: the Golden Mother Flies in Emptiness song
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驾我八景舆 欻然入玉清 龙群拂霄上 虎旗摄朱兵 |
I go out in my carriage for the scenery and Suddenly I'm entering Jade Purity. Flocks of dragons skim the clouds and Tiger banners are born by crimson troops. |
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逍遥三弦际 万流无暂停 哀此去留会 劫尽天地倾 |
A rickety, freewheeling orchestra strikes up, Playing wildly, with nary a pause. It's sad here. I could leave or stay. Robbed of everything, Heaven and Earth exhausted. |
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当寻无中景 不死亦不生 体彼自然道 寂观合大冥 |
I should search this empty landscape, where Nothing dies or gets born either. Lesser men naturally go that way. I silently watch as they conform to the darkness. |
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南岳挺直干 玉英曜颖精 有任靡期事 无心自虚灵 |
Mt. Heng stands there upright and useless. Jade Hero displays his glorious wit. It's other people's job to waste their time on such. Beyond thought, I enter divine emptiness. |
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嘉会绛河内 相与乐朱英 |
There's a big banquet down on Purple River. Let's go and sing this for the crimson heroes. |
-- 孟郊
废话
This is T.S. Eliot, long before T.S. Eliot. The first of these 列仙 poems was mild by comprison, seeming mostly to be Meng Jiao making fun of himself. The second expanded its criticism into the literary world. This is either an even broader social criticism or a deeper criticism of the literati. I would guess the latter. But I wouldn't bet money on it.