Chinese Literature Part 37

"To the high hills I looked, and urged each steed; The great road next was smooth and plain.

Up hill, o'er dale, I never slackened speed; Like lute-string sounded every rein.

I knew, my journey ended, I should come To you, sweet bride, the comfort of my home."

~Against Listening to Slanderers~

Like the blueflies buzzing round, And on the fences lighting, Are the sons of slander found, Who never cease their biting.

O thou happy, courteous king, To the winds their slanders fling.

Buzzing round the blueflies hear, About the jujubes flocking!

So the slanderers appear, Whose calumnies are shocking.

By no law or order bound, All the kingdom they confound.

How they buzz, those odious flies, Upon the hazels cl.u.s.t'ring!

And as odious are the lies Of those slanderers bl.u.s.t'ring.

Hatred stirred between us two Shows the evil they can do.

BOOK VIII

THE DECADE OF TOO JIN SZE

~In Praise of By-gone Simplicity~

In the old capital they stood, With yellow fox-furs plain, Their manners all correct and good, Speech free from vulgar stain.

Could we go back to Chow's old days, All would look up to them with praise.

In the old capital they wore _T'ae_ hats and black caps small; And ladies, who famed surnames bore, Their own thick hair let fall.

Such simple ways are seen no more, And the changed manners I deplore.

Ear-rings, made of plainest gold, In the old days were worn.

Each lady of a n.o.ble line A Yin or Keih seemed born.

Such officers and ladies now I see not and my sorrows grow.

With graceful sweep their girdles fell, Then in the days of old.

The ladies' side-hair, with a swell, Like scorpion's tail, rose bold.

Such, if I saw them in these days, I'd follow with admiring gaze.

So hung their girdles, not for show;-- To their own length 'twas due.

'Twas not by art their hair curled so;-- By nature so it grew.

I seek such manners now in vain, And pine for them with longing pain.

[NOTE.--Yin and Keih were clan names of great families, the ladies of which would be leaders of fas.h.i.+on in the capital.]

~A Wife Bemoans Her Husband's Absence~

So full am I of anxious thought, Though all the morn king-gra.s.s I've sought, To fill my arms I fail.

Like wisp all-tangled is my hair!

To wash it let me home repair.

My lord soon may I hail!

Though 'mong the indigo I've wrought The morning long; through anxious thought My skirt's filled but in part.

Within five days he was to appear; The sixth has come and he's not here.

Oh! how this racks my heart!

When here we dwelt in union sweet, If the hunt called his eager feet, His bow I cased for him.

Or if to fish he went away, And would be absent all the day, His line I put in trim.

What in his angling did he catch?

Well worth the time it was to watch How bream and tench he took.

Men thronged upon the banks and gazed; At bream and tench they looked amazed, The triumphs of his hook.

~The Earl of Shaou's Work~

As the young millet, by the genial rain Enriched, shoots up luxuriant and tall, So, when we southward marched with toil and pain, The Earl of Shaou cheered and inspired us all.

We pushed our barrows, and our burdens bore; We drove our wagons, and our oxen led.

"The work once done, our labor there is o'er, And home we travel," to ourselves we said.

Close kept our footmen round the chariot track; Our eager host in close battalions sped.

"When once our work is done, then we go back, Our labor over," to themselves they said.

Hard was the work we had at Seay to do, But Shaou's great earl the city soon upreared.

The host its service gave with ardor true;-- Such power in all the earl's commands appeared!

We did on plains and low lands what was meet; We cleared the springs and streams, the land to drain.

The Earl of Shaou announced his work complete, And the King's heart reposed, at rest again.

~The Plaint of King Yew's Forsaken Wife~

The fibres of the white-flowered rush Are with the white gra.s.s bound.

So do the two together go, In closest union found.

And thus should man and wife abide, The twain combined in one; But this bad man sends me away, And bids me dwell alone.