English Rendering
The rich of hunger never die;
The poor of their misfortune sigh.
Minister Wei, would you please hear
What I would confide to your ear?
While young, I was a candidate
In Civil Exams of the State.
Having ten thousand volumes read,
I wrote as if by God I was led.
In prose I was second to none;
In verse I vied with the best one.
Ministers would like to know me,
And poets my neighbors would be.
I thought, outstanding as was I,
A job was not hard to come by.
I would help the crown in my strife
To purify the ways of life.
I could not do what I desired;
Singing, I would not be retired.
Riding a donkey thirteen years,
I suffered the capital's sneers.
I knock at the mansions by day;
At dusk I hear dusty steeds neigh.
I eat leftovers of a meal;
In vain I suffer a great deal.
The Crown showed his favor and love;
I saw a chance to rise above.
In the sky the roe folds its wings;
On the sea swim no scaly kings.
I thank you for your kindness tuee,
Knowing you're kind in what you do.
Whenever you meet a good friend,
It's my new verse you recommend.
Though glad of your prosperity,
How could I bear my poverty?
I'm not unhappy in my place;
But it's a dilemma I face.
Should I go seaward for my rest,
Or to the capital in the west?
I love the Southern Mountains high
And the clear River flowing by.
I can't forget what I owe you,
Nor what to ministers is due.
Like a white gull on the vast sea,
I'd fly for miles and miles, carefree.