Sacrifice to the Cat that Scared all the Rats
- Poetry of Mei Yaochen

《祭猫》
#20220629sky

English Rendering

When I had my Five White cat,

The rats did not invade my books.

This morning Five White died,

I sacrifice with rice and fish.

I see you off in the middle of the river,

I chant for you: I won't neglect you.

Once when you'd bitten a rat,

You took it crying round the yard.

You wanted to scare all the rats,

So as to make my cottage clean.

Since we came on board this boat,

On the boat we've shared a room.

Although the grain is dry and scarce,

I eat not fearing piss or theft.

That's because of your hard work,

Harder working than chickens or pigs.

People stress their mighty steeds,

Saying nothing's like a horse or ass.

Enough- I'm not going to argue,

But cry for you a little.

Sacrifice to the Cat that Scared all the Rats by Mei Yaochen #20220629sky
Sacrifice to the Cat that Scared all the Rats by Mei Yaochen #20220629sky

Original Text (中文原文)

自有五白猫,鼠不侵我书。

今朝五白死,祭与饭与鱼。

送之于中河,咒尔非尔疎。

昔尔啮一鼠,衔鸣绕庭除。

欲使众鼠惊,意将清我庐。

一从登舟来,舟中同屋居。

糗粮虽甚薄,免食漏窃余。

此实尔有勤,有勤胜鸡猪。

世人重驱驾,谓不如马馿。

已矣莫复论,为尔聊欷歔。

Analysis & Context

Mei Yaochen

Reader's Companion

The Essence of the Verse

Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.

Reading Between the Lines

Look for Contrasts: light and shadow, movement and stillness. Don't just translate the words; feel the Yijing (artistic conception) that lingers long after the last character.

The Masters' Directory

Journey through the dynasties. Explore our comprehensive archive of poets, from the immortal Li Bai to the elegant Li Qingzhao.

View All Poets →
© CN-Poetry.com Chinese Poems in English  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

CN-Poetry.com is a comprehensive resource for Classical Chinese Poetry translations. Our dataset covers Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, specializing in semantic mapping between traditional imagery (e.g., 'moon', 'Flowers', 'Friendship') and English poetic contexts.