possibly by Mei Cheng (d. c140 BCE)
Translation by Arthur Waley (1889 - 1969)

Of this day's glorious feast and revel
Language: English  after the Chinese (中文) 
Of this day's glorious feast and revel
The pleasure and delight are difficult to describe.
Plucking the lute they sent forth lingering sounds,
The new melodies in beauty reached the divine.
Skilful singers intoned the high words,
Those who knew the tune heard the trueness of their singing.
We sat there each with the same desire
And like thoughts by each unexpressed:
"Man in the world lodging for a single life-time
Passes suddenly like dust borne on the wind.
Then let us hurry out with high steps
And be the first to reach the highways and fords:
Rather than stay at home wretched and poor
For long years plunged in sordid grief."

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Confirmed with A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems translated by Arthur Waley, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1919, in Seventeen Old Poems, no. 4.


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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2022-01-30
Line count: 14
Word count: 112