The conversation does not end quickly:
Prattling and babbling, what a lot he says!
Only when one is almost dead with fatigue
He asks at last if one isn’t finding him tiring.
(One’s arm is almost in half with continual fanning:
The sweat is pouring down one’s neck in streams.)
Do not say that this is a small matter:
I consider the practice a blot on our social life.
I therefore caution all wise men
That August visitors should not be admitted.
ON THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER
By Wei Wēn-ti, son of Ts’ao Ts’ao, who founded the dynasty of Wei, and died in A.D. 220. (The poem has been wrongly attributed to Han Wēn-ti, died 157 B.C.)
I look up and see / his curtains and bed:
I look down and examine / his table and mat.
The things are there / just as before.
But the man they belonged to / is not there.
His spirit suddenly / has taken flight
And left me behind / far away.
To whom shall I look / on whom rely?
My tears flow / in an endless stream.
“Yu, yu” / cry the wandering deer
As they carry fodder / to their young in the wood.
Flap, flap / fly the birds
As they carry their little ones / back to the nest.
I alone / am desolate
Dreading the days / of our long parting:
My grieving heart’s / settled pain
No one else / can understand.
There is a saying / among people
“Sorrow makes us / grow old.”
Alas, alas / for my white hairs!
All too early / they have come!
Long wailing, / long sighing
My thoughts are fixed on my sage parent.
They say the good / live long:
Then why was he / not spared?
THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST WU
TWO POEMS
By Wei Wēn-ti (A.D. 188-227)
(1)
My charioteer hastens to yoke my carriage,
For I must go on a journey far away.
“Where are you going on your journey far away?”
To the land of Wu where my enemies are.
But I must ride many thousand miles,
Beyond the Eastern Road that leads to Wu.
Between the rivers bitter winds blow,
Swiftly flow the waters of Huai and Ssŭ.
I want to take a skiff and cross these rivers,
But alas for me, where shall I find a boat?
To sit idle is not my desire:
Gladly enough would I go to my country’s aid.