Two Miscellaneous Poems ( 杂诗二首 )
Although he did not meet with much success in politics, Kong Rong was considered a leading literary figure of his time, f…
Read Translation & Analysis →Ⅰ
High rises Mount Zhongshan up in the north;
Hot lies the scorching road down in the south
The sun is shining over heavenly gates
And sending scorching heat on icy states.
Men of lofty aims all through the ages
Stick to the noble purpose of the sages.
For ninety years among the common men,
Lu Wang became the teacher of Lord Wen.
Once imprisoned when he was a young man,
Guan Zhong became the premier of Duke Huan.
Each man may have a fate of different sort;
The pity is that human life is short.
Although a man of ill luck in this world,
I'll act the tiger in my deed and word.
How can I waste my life for my own yen
And wallow in the mire with mundane men?
As I don't care about the mere details,
I am assailed and sneered with groundless tales.
Lu Wang does not conform to my desire;
Boyi and Shuqi aren't what I admire!
Ⅱ
Far away from home for my career,
I came back to my house late in the year.
When I looked around for my dear son,
From my wife's eyes tears began to run.
When I heard that my dear son was dead,
It seemed that the sun was no longer red.
"In the northwest lies his lonely tomb.
You are too late to see him,I assume."
When I went out and hurried to the mound,
Wild vetch and wormwood were all that I found.
His bones now slumber in the netherworld;
His flesh is mixed with dust and soars skyward.
As he failed to see me on his deathbed,
How can he know me now that he is dead?
When his spirit wanders in the dark,
Where in the world will it at last embark?
Every man expects to have his son,
But I can only follow my dead one.
Nowhere on earth am I to find relief;
My coat is soaked with tears of lasting grief.
To their fate all men perforce concede,
But my son's life is much too short indeed.
