孟郊诗
Poems of Meng Jiao
Index
哭卢贞国
Crying for my country's blackened purity
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一别难与期 存亡易寒燠 下马入君门 声悲不成哭 |
Parting, it's hard to be hopeful. But life and death comes down to hot or cold. Tying up my horse at your gate, I hear your sadness but manage not to cry. |
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自能富才艺 当冀深荣禄 皇天负我贤 遗恨至两目 |
I can be grateful for my talents. I've even wound up with a decent salary. But Heaven has disappointed me. Eternal regret is all I can see. |
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平生叹无子 家家亲相嘱 |
All my life, I've wanted a son Like everyone tells me I should. |
-- 孟郊
废话
The title is kind of problematic. Really problematic, actually. I can make other senses of it. But they are less helpful than this one.
Who is he visiting? A friend who has been unjustly treated and banished by the empire? The house of a friend who has died?
And the whole mess isn't helped by Meng Jiao starting out with one poem and ending up with another. Bai Juyi does this all the time. The great Tang poets (great to my mind, anyway) are just fine with inspiration taking their poem off on a tangent. Apparently, their audiences were happy with this, too. I, for one, have no problem with it, even if it makes translation a bit of a challenge.