by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Translation by Arthur Waley (1889 - 1969)

Old Poem
Language: English  after the Chinese (中文) 
At fifteen I went with the army,
At fourscore I came home.
On the way I met a man from the village,
I asked him who there was at home.
"That over there is your house,
All covered over with trees and bushes."
Rabbits had run in at the dog-hole,
Pheasants flew down from the beams of the roof.
In the courtyard was growing some wild grain;
And by the well, some wild mallows.
I'll boil the grain and make porridge,
I'll pluck the mallows and make soup.
Soup and porridge are both cooked,
But there is no one to eat them with.
I went out and looked towards the east,
While tears fell and wetted my clothes.

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Confirmed with Arthur Waley, Chinese Poems, Dover Publications, 2000, page 51, an unabridged republication of the work published in 1946 in London by George Allen and Unwin.


Text Authorship:

Based on:

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

  • Also set in French (Français), a translation by L. Lemierre ; composed by Blair Fairchild.

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2021-10-17
Line count: 16
Word count: 118