杜甫　韋諷錄事宅觀曹將軍畫馬圖 A DRAWING OF A HORSE BY GENERAL CAO
AT SECRETARY WEI FENG'S HOUSE
國初以來畫鞍馬
神妙獨數江都王
將軍得名三十載
人間又見真乘黃
曾貌先帝照夜白
龍池十日飛霹靂
內府殷紅瑪瑙盤
婕妤傳詔才人索
盤賜將軍拜舞歸
輕紈細綺相追飛
貴戚權門得筆跡
始覺屏障生光輝
昔日太宗拳毛 [馬咼]
近時郭家獅子花
今之新圖有二馬
復令識者久嘆嗟
此皆騎戰一敵萬
縞素漠漠開風沙
其馀七匹亦殊絕
迥若寒空雜煙雪
霜蹄蹴踏長楸間
馬官廝養森成列
可憐九馬爭神駿
顧視清高氣深穩
借問苦心愛者誰
後有韋諷前支盾
憶昔巡幸新豐宮
翠花拂天來向東
騰驤磊落三萬匹
皆與此圖筋骨同
自從獻寶朝河宗
無復射蛟江水中
君不見
金粟堆前松柏里
龍媒去盡鳥呼風
Throughout this dynasty no one had painted horses
Like the master-spirit, Prince Jiangdu --
And then to General Cao through his thirty years of fame
The world's gaze turned, for royal steeds.
He painted the late Emperor's luminous white horse.
For ten days the thunder flew over Dragon Lake,
And a pink-agate plate was sent him from the palace-
The talk of the court-ladies, the marvel of all eyes.
The General danced, receiving it in his honoured home
After this rare gift, followed rapidly fine silks
From many of the nobles, requesting that his art
Lend a new lustre to their screens.
...First came the curly-maned horse of Emperor Taizong,
Then, for the Guos, a lion-spotted horse....
But now in this painting I see two horses,
A sobering sight for whosoever knew them.
They are war- horses. Either could face ten thousand.
They make the white silk stretch away into a vast desert.
And the seven others with them are almost as noble
Mist and snow are moving across a cold sky,
And hoofs are cleaving snow-drifts under great trees-
With here a group of officers and there a group of servants.
See how these nine horses all vie with one another-
The high clear glance, the deep firm breath.
...Who understands distinction? Who really cares for art?
You, Wei Feng, have followed Cao; Zhidun preceded him.
...I remember when the late Emperor came toward his Summer Palace,
The procession, in green-feathered rows, swept from the eastern sky --
Thirty thousand horses, prancing, galloping,
Fashioned, every one of them, like the horses in this picture....
But now the Imperial Ghost receives secret jade from the River God,
For the Emperor hunts crocodiles no longer by the streams.
Where you see his Great Gold Tomb, you may hear among the pines
A bird grieving in the wind that the Emperor's horses are gone.

杜甫　丹青引贈曹霸將軍 A SONG OF A PAINTING TO GENERAL CAO
將軍魏武之子孫
於今為庶為青門
英雄割據雖已矣
文采風流今尚存
學書初學衛夫人
但恨無過王右軍
丹青不知老將至
富貴於我如浮云
開元之中常引見
承恩數上南熏殿
凌煙功臣少顏色
將軍下筆開生面
良相頭上進賢冠
猛將腰間大羽箭
褒公鄂公毛發動
英姿颯爽猶酣戰
先帝天馬玉花驄
畫工如山貌不同
是日牽來赤墀下
迥立閶闔生長風
詔謂將軍拂絹素
意匠慘淡經營中
斯須九重真龍出
一洗萬古凡馬空
玉花卻在御榻上
榻上庭前屹相向
至尊含笑催賜金
圉人太仆皆惆悵
弟子韓干早入室
亦能畫馬窮殊相
干惟畫肉不畫骨
忍使驊騮氣凋喪
將軍畫善蓋有神
偶逢佳士亦寫真
即今漂泊干戈際
屢貌尋常行路人
涂窮反遭俗眼白
世上未有如公貧
但看古來盛名下
終日坎 [土稟] 纏其身
A General, descended from Wei's Emperor Wu,
You are nobler now than when a noble....
Conquerors and their valour perish,
But masters of beauty live forever.
...With your brush-work learned from Lady Wei
And second only to Wang Xizhi's,
Faithful to your art, you know no age,
Letting wealth and fame drift by like clouds.
...In the years of Kaiyuan you were much with the Emperor,
Accompanied him often to the Court of the South Wind.
When the spirit left great statesmen, on walls of the Hall of Fame
The point of your brush preserved their living faces.
You crowned all the premiers with coronets of office;
You fitted all commanders with arrows at their girdles;
You made the founders of this dynasty, with every hair alive,
Seem to be just back from the fierceness of a battle.
...The late Emperor had a horse, known as Jade Flower,
Whom artists had copied in various poses.
They led him one day to the red marble stairs
With his eyes toward the palace in the deepening air.
Then, General, commanded to proceed with your work,
You centred all your being on a piece of silk.
And later, when your dragon-horse, born of the sky,
Had banished earthly horses for ten thousand generations,
There was one Jade Flower standing on the dais
And another by the steps, and they marvelled at each other....
The Emperor rewarded you with smiles and with gifts,
While officers and men of the stud hung about and stared.
...Han Gan, your follower, has likewise grown proficient
At representing horses in all their attitudes;
But picturing the flesh, he fails to draw the bone-
So that even the finest are deprived of their spirit.
You, beyond the mere skill, used your art divinely-
And expressed, not only horses, but the life of a good man....
Yet here you are, wandering in a world of disorder
And sketching from time to time some petty passerby
People note your case with the whites of their eyes.
There's nobody purer, there's nobody poorer.
...Read in the records, from earliest times,
How hard it is to be a great artist.

杜甫　寄韓諫議... A LETTER TO CENSOR HAN
今我不樂思岳陽
身欲奮飛病在床
美人娟娟隔秋水
濯足洞庭望八荒
鴻飛冥冥日月白
青楓葉赤天雨霜
玉京群帝集北斗
或騎麒麟翳鳳凰
芙蓉旌旗煙霧落
影動倒景搖瀟湘
星宮之君醉瓊漿
羽人稀少不在旁
似聞昨者赤松子
恐是漢代韓張良
昔隨劉氏定長安
帷幄未改神慘傷
國家成敗吾豈敢
色難腥腐餐楓香
周南留滯古所惜
南極老人應壽昌
美人胡為隔秋水
焉得置之貢玉堂
I am sad. My thoughts are in Youzhou.
I would hurry there-but I am sick in bed.
...Beauty would be facing me across the autumn waters.
Oh, to wash my feet in Lake Dongting and see at its eight corners
Wildgeese flying high, sun and moon both white,
Green maples changing to red in the frosty sky,
Angels bound for the Capital of Heaven, near the North Star,
Riding, some of them phrenixes, and others unicorns,
With banners of hibiscus and with melodies of mist,
Their shadows dancing upside-down in the southern rivers,
Till the Queen of the Stars, drowsy with her nectar,
Would forget the winged men on either side of her!
...From the Wizard of the Red Pine this word has come for me:
That after his earlier follower he has now a new disciple
Who, formerly at the capital as Emperor Liu's adviser,
In spite of great successes, never could be happy.
...What are a country's rise and fall?
Can flesh-pots be as fragrant as mountain fruit?....
I grieve that he is lost far away in the south.
May the star of long life accord him its blessing!
...O purity, to seize you from beyond the autumn waters
And to place you as an offering in the Court of Imperial Jade.

杜甫　古柏行 A SONG OF AN OLD CYPRESS
孔明廟前有老柏
柯如青銅根如石
雙皮溜雨四十圍
黛色參天二千尺
君臣已與時際會
樹木猶為人愛惜
云來氣接巫峽長
月出寒通雪山白
憶昨路繞錦亭東
先主武侯同 [門必]宮
崔嵬枝干郊原古
窈窕丹青戶牖空
落落盤踞雖得地
冥冥孤高多烈風
扶持自是神明力
正直元因造化功
大廈如傾要梁棟
萬牛回首丘山重
不露文章世已驚
未辭剪伐誰能送
苦心豈免容螻蟻
香葉終經宿鸞鳳
志士幽人莫怨嗟
古來材大難為用
Beside the Temple of the Great Premier stands an ancient cypress
With a trunk of green bronze and a root of stone.
The girth of its white bark would be the reach of forty men
And its tip of kingfish-blue is two thousand feet in heaven.
Dating from the days of a great ruler's great statesman,
Their very tree is loved now and honoured by the people.
Clouds come to it from far away, from the Wu cliffs,
And the cold moon glistens on its peak of snow.
...East of the Silk Pavilion yesterday I found
The ancient ruler and wise statesman both worshipped in one temple,
Whose tree, with curious branches, ages the whole landscape
In spite of the fresh colours of the windows and the doors.
And so firm is the deep root, so established underground,
That its lone lofty boughs can dare the weight of winds,
Its only protection the Heavenly Power,
Its only endurance the art of its Creator.
Though oxen sway ten thousand heads, they cannot move a mountain.
...When beams are required to restore a great house,
Though a tree writes no memorial, yet people understand
That not unless they fell it can use be made of it....
Its bitter heart may be tenanted now by black and white ants,
But its odorous leaves were once the nest of phoenixes and pheasants.
...Let wise and hopeful men harbour no complaint.
The greater the timber, the tougher it is to use.

杜甫　觀公孫大娘弟子舞劍器行并序 A SONG OF DAGGER-DANCING TO A GIRL-PUPIL
OF LADY GONGSUN
大歷二年十月十九日夔府別駕元持宅見臨潁李十二娘舞劍器，壯其蔚 [足支] 。問其所師，曰∶
余公孫大娘弟子也。開元三載，余尚童稚，記於郾城觀公孫氏舞劍器渾脫。瀏漓頓挫，獨出冠時。
自高頭宜春梨園二伎坊內人，洎外供奉，曉是舞者，圣文神武皇帝初，公孫一人而已。玉貌錦衣，
況余白首！今茲弟子亦匪盛顏。既辨其由來，知波瀾莫二。撫事慷慨，聊為劍器行。昔者吳人張
旭善草書書帖，數嘗於鄴縣見公孫大娘舞西河劍器，自此草書長進，豪蕩感激。即公孫可知矣！
On the 19th of the Tenth-month in the second year of Dali, I saw, in the house
of the Kueifu official Yuante, a girl named Li from Lingying dancing with a
dagger. I admired her skill and asked who was her teacher. She named Lady
Gongsun. I remembered that in the third year of Kaiyuan at Yancheng, when I
was a little boy, I saw Lady Gongsun dance. She was the only one in the
Imperial Theatre who could dance with this weapon. Now she is aged and unknown,
and even her pupil has passed the heyday of beauty. I wrote this poem to
express my wistfulness. The work of Zhang Xu of the Wu district, that great
master of grassy writing, was improved by his having been present when Lady
Gongsun danced in the Yeh district. From this may be judged the art of Gongsun.
昔有佳人公孫氏
一舞劍器動四方
觀者如山色沮喪
天地為之久低昂
霍如羿射九日落
矯如群帝驂龍翔
來如雷霆收震怒
罷如江海凝清光
絳唇珠袖兩寂寞
晚有弟子傳芬芳
臨潁美人在白帝
妙舞此曲神揚揚
與余問答既有以
感時撫事增惋傷
先帝侍女八千人
公孫劍器初第一
五十年間似反掌
風塵 [氵項] 洞昏王室
梨園子弟散如煙
女樂馀姿映寒日
金粟堆前木已拱
瞿塘石城草蕭瑟
玳筵急管曲復終
樂極哀來月東出
老夫不知其所往
足繭荒山轉愁疾
There lived years ago the beautiful Gongsun,
Who, dancing with her dagger, drew from all four quarters
An audience like mountains lost among themselves.
Heaven and earth moved back and forth, following her motions,
Which were bright as when the Archer shot the nine suns down the sky
And rapid as angels before the wings of dragons.
She began like a thunderbolt, venting its anger,
And ended like the shining calm of rivers and the sea....
But vanished are those red lips and those pearly sleeves;
And none but this one pupil bears the perfume of her fame,
This beauty from Lingying, at the Town of the White God,
Dancing still and singing in the old blithe way.
And while we reply to each other's questions,
We sigh together, saddened by changes that have come.
There were eight thousand ladies in the late Emperor's court,
But none could dance the dagger-dance like Lady Gongsun.
...Fifty years have passed, like the turning of a palm;
Wind and dust, filling the world, obscure the Imperial House.
Instead of the Pear-Garden Players, who have blown by like a mist,
There are one or two girl-musicians now-trying to charm the cold Sun.
There are man-size trees by the Emperor's Golden Tomb
I seem to hear dead grasses rattling on the cliffs of Qutang.
...The song is done, the slow string and quick pipe have ceased.
At the height of joy, sorrow comes with the eastern moon rising.
And I, a poor old man, not knowing where to go,
Must harden my feet on the lone hills, toward sickness and despair.

元結　石魚湖上醉歌并序 A DRINKING SONG AT STONE-FISH LAKE
漫叟以公田米釀酒，因休暇，則載酒於湖上，時取一醉；歡醉中，據湖岸，引臂向魚取酒，使舫載之，
遍飲坐者。意疑倚巴丘，酌於君山之上，諸子環洞庭而坐，酒舫泛泛然，觸波濤而往來者，乃作歌以長之。
I have used grain from the public fields, for distilling wine. After my office hours
I have the wine loaded on a boat and then I seat my friends on the bank of the lake.
The little wine-boats come to each of us and supply us with wine. We seem to be
drinking on Pa Islet in Lake Dongting. And I write this poem.
石魚湖，似洞庭
夏水欲滿君山青
山為樽，水為沼
酒徒歷歷坐洲鳥
長風連日作大浪
不能廢人運酒舫
我持長瓢坐巴丘
酌飲四座以散愁
Stone-Fish Lake is like Lake Dongting --
When the top of Zun is green and the summer tide is rising.
...With the mountain for a table, and the lake a fount of wine,
The tipplers all are settled along the sandy shore.
Though a stiff wind for days has roughened the water,
Wine-boats constantly arrive....
I have a long-necked gourd and, happy on Ba Island,
I am pouring a drink in every direction doing away with care.

韓愈　山石 MOUNTAIN-STONES
山石犖確行徑微
黃昏到寺蝙蝠飛
升堂坐階新雨足
芭蕉葉大梔子肥
僧言古壁佛畫好
以火來照所見稀
鋪床拂席置羹飯
疏糲亦足飽我饑
夜深靜臥百蟲絕
清月出嶺光入扉
天明獨去無道路
出入高下窮煙霏
山紅澗碧紛爛漫
時見松櫪皆十圍
當流赤足蹋澗石
水聲激激風吹衣
人生如此自可樂
豈必局束為人 [革幾]
嗟哉吾黨二三子
安得至老不更歸
Rough were the mountain-stones, and the path very narrow;
And when I reached the temple, bats were in the dusk.
I climbed to the hall, sat on the steps, and drank the rain- washed air
Among the round gardenia-pods and huge bananaleaves.
On the old wall, said the priest, were Buddhas finely painted,
And he brought a light and showed me, and I called them wonderful
He spread the bed, dusted the mats, and made my supper ready,
And, though the food was coarse, it satisfied my hunger.
At midnight, while I lay there not hearing even an insect,
The mountain moon with her pure light entered my door....
At dawn I left the mountain and, alone, lost my way:
In and out, up and down, while a heavy mist
Made brook and mountain green and purple, brightening everything.
I am passing sometimes pines and oaks, which ten men could not girdle,
I am treading pebbles barefoot in swift-running water --
Its ripples purify my ear, while a soft wind blows my garments....
These are the things which, in themselves, make life happy.
Why should we be hemmed about and hampered with people?
O chosen pupils, far behind me in my own country,
What if I spent my old age here and never went back home?

韓愈　八月十五夜贈張功曹
ON THE FESTIVAL OF THE MOON
TO SUB-OFFICIAL ZHANG
纖云四卷天無河
清風吹空月舒波
沙平水息聲影絕
一杯相屬君當歌
君歌聲酸辭且苦
不能聽終淚如雨
洞庭連天九疑高
蛟龍出沒猩鼯號
十生九死到官所
幽居默默如藏逃
下床畏蛇食畏藥
海氣濕蟄熏腥臊
昨者州前槌大鼓
嗣皇繼圣登夔皋
赦書一日行萬里
罪從大辟皆除死
遷者追回流者還
滌瑕蕩垢清朝班
州家申名使家抑
坎軻只得移荊蠻
判司卑官不堪說
未免捶楚塵埃間
同時輩流多上道
天路幽險難追攀
君歌且休聽我歌
我歌今與君殊科
一年明月今宵多
人生由命非由他
有酒不飲奈明何
The fine clouds have opened and the River of Stars is gone,
A clear wind blows across the sky, and the moon widens its wave,
The sand is smooth, the water still, no sound and no shadow,
As I offer you a cup of wine, asking you to sing.
But so sad is this song of yours and so bitter your voice
That before I finish listening my tears have become a rain:
"Where Lake Dongting is joined to the sky by the lofty Nine-Doubt Mountain,
Dragons, crocodiles, rise and sink, apes, flying foxes, whimper....
At a ten to one risk of death, I have reached my official post,
Where lonely I live and hushed, as though I were in hiding.
I leave my bed, afraid of snakes; I eat, fearing poisons;
The air of the lake is putrid, breathing its evil odours....
Yesterday, by the district office, the great drum was announcing
The crowning of an emperor, a change in the realm.
The edict granting pardons runs three hundred miles a day,
All those who were to die have had their sentences commuted,
The unseated are promoted and exiles are recalled,
Corruptions are abolished, clean officers appointed.
My superior sent my name in but the governor would not listen
And has only transferred me to this barbaric place.
My rank is very low and useless to refer to;
They might punish me with lashes in the dust of the street.
Most of my fellow exiles are now returning home --
A journey which, to me, is a heaven beyond climbing."
...Stop your song, I beg you, and listen to mine,
A song that is utterly different from yours:
"Tonight is the loveliest moon of the year.
All else is with fate, not ours to control;
But, refusing this wine, may we choose more tomorrow?"

韓愈　謁衡岳廟遂宿岳寺題門樓 STOPPING AT A TEMPLE ON HENG MOUNTAIN I
INSCRIBE THIS POEM IN THE GATE-TOWER
五岳祭秩皆三公
四方環鎮嵩當中
火維地荒足妖怪
天假神柄專其雄
噴云泄霧藏半腹
雖有絕頂誰能窮
我來正逢秋雨節
陰氣晦昧無清風
潛心默禱若有應
豈非正直能感通
須臾靜掃眾峰出
仰見突兀撐青空
紫蓋連延接天柱
石廩騰擲堆祝融
森然魄動下馬拜
松柏一逕趨靈宮
紛墻丹柱動光彩
鬼物圖畫填青紅
升階傴僂薦脯酒
欲以菲薄明其衷
廟內老人識神意
睢盱偵伺能鞠躬
手持杯 [王交] 導我擲
云此最吉馀難同
竄逐蠻荒幸不死
衣食才足甘長終
侯王將相望久絕
神縱欲福難為功
夜投佛寺上高閣
星月掩映云 [日童][日龍]
猿鳴鐘動不知曙
杲杲寒日生於東
The five Holy Mountains have the rank of the Three Dukes.
The other four make a ring, with the Song Mountain midmost.
To this one, in the fire-ruled south, where evil signs are rife,
Heaven gave divine power, ordaining it a peer.
All the clouds and hazes are hidden in its girdle;
And its forehead is beholden only by a few.
...I came here in autumn, during the rainy season,
When the sky was overcast and the clear wind gone.
I quieted my mind and prayed, hoping for an answer;
For assuredly righteous thinking reaches to high heaven.
And soon all the mountain-peaks were showing me their faces;
I looked up at a pinnacle that held the clean blue sky:
The wide Purple-Canopy joined the Celestial Column;
The Stone Granary leapt, while the Fire God stood still.
Moved by this token, I dismounted to offer thanks.
A long path of pine and cypress led to the temple.
Its white walls and purple pillars shone, and the vivid colour
Of gods and devils filled the place with patterns of red and blue.
I climbed the steps and, bending down to sacrifice, besought
That my pure heart might be welcome, in spite of my humble offering.
The old priest professed to know the judgment of the God:
He was polite and reverent, making many bows.
He handed me divinity-cups, he showed me how to use them
And told me that my fortune was the very best of all.
Though exiled to a barbarous land, mine is a happy life.
Plain food and plain clothes are all I ever wanted.
To be prince, duke, premier, general, was never my desire;
And if the God would bless me, what better could he grant than this ? --
At night I lie down to sleep in the top of a high tower;
While moon and stars glimmer through the darkness of the clouds....
Apes call, a bell sounds. And ready for dawn
I see arise, far in the east the cold bright sun.

韓愈　石鼓歌.........
A POEM ON THE STONE DRUMS
張生手持石鼓文
勸我識作石鼓歌
少陵無人謫仙死
才薄將奈石鼓何
周綱凌遲四海沸
宣王憤起揮天戈
大開明堂受朝賀
諸侯劍佩鳴相磨
搜于岐陽騁雄俊
萬里禽獸皆遮羅
鐫功勒成告萬世
鑿石作鼓隳嵯峨
從臣才藝咸第一
揀選撰刻留山阿
雨淋日炙野火燎
鬼物守護煩 [扌為] 呵
公從何處得紙本
毫發盡備無差訛
辭嚴義密讀難曉
字體不類隸與蝌
年深豈免有缺畫
快劍砍斷生蛟鼉
鸞翔鳳翥眾仙下
珊瑚碧樹交枝柯
金繩鐵索鎖鈕壯
古鼎躍水龍騰梭
陋儒編詩不收入
二雅褊迫無委蛇
孔子西行不到秦
掎摭星宿遺羲娥
嗟予好古生苦晚
對此涕淚雙滂沱
憶昔初蒙博士徵
其年始改稱元和
故人從軍在右輔
為我度量掘臼科
濯冠沐浴告祭酒
如此至寶存豈多
氈包席裹可立致
十鼓只載數駱駝
薦諸太廟比郜鼎
光價豈止百倍過
圣恩若許留太學
諸生講解得切磋
觀經鴻都尚填咽
坐見舉國來奔波
剜苔剔蘚露節角
安置妥帖平不頗
大廈深檐與蓋覆
經歷久遠期無佗
中朝大官老於事
詎肯感激徒 [“妍”右上一橫改為“合”] 婀
牧童敲火牛礪角
誰復著手為摩挲
日銷月鑠就埋沒
六年西顧空吟哦
羲之俗書趁姿媚
數紙尚可博白鵝
繼周八代爭戰罷
無人收拾理則那
方今太平日無事
柄任儒術崇丘軻
安能以此上論列
愿借辯口如懸河
石鼓之歌止於此
嗚呼吾意其蹉跎
Chang handed me this tracing, from the stone drums,
Beseeching me to write a poem on the stone drums.
Du Fu has gone. Li Bai is dead.
What can my poor talent do for the stone drums?
...When the Zhou power waned and China was bubbling,
Emperor Xuan, up in wrath, waved his holy spear:
And opened his Great Audience, receiving all the tributes
Of kings and lords who came to him with a tune of clanging weapons.
They held a hunt in Qiyang and proved their marksmanship:
Fallen birds and animals were strewn three thousand miles.
And the exploit was recorded, to inform new generations....
Cut out of jutting cliffs, these drums made of stone-
On which poets and artisans, all of the first order,
Had indited and chiselled-were set in the deep mountains
To be washed by rain, baked by sun, burned by wildfire,
Eyed by evil spirits; and protected by the gods.
...Where can he have found the tracing on this paper? --
True to the original, not altered by a hair,
The meaning deep, the phrases cryptic, difficult to read.
And the style of the characters neither square nor tadpole.
Time has not yet vanquished the beauty of these letters --
Looking like sharp daggers that pierce live crocodiles,
Like phoenix-mates dancing, like angels hovering down,
Like trees of jade and coral with interlocking branches,
Like golden cord and iron chain tied together tight,
Like incense-tripods flung in the sea, like dragons mounting heaven.
Historians, gathering ancient poems, forgot to gather these,
To make the two Books of Musical Song more colourful and striking;
Confucius journeyed in the west, but not to the Qin Kingdom,
He chose our planet and our stars but missed the sun and moon
I who am fond of antiquity, was born too late
And, thinking of these wonderful things, cannot hold back my tears....
I remember, when I was awarded my highest degree,
During the first year of Yuanho,
How a friend of mine, then at the western camp,
Offered to assist me in removing these old relics.
I bathed and changed, then made my plea to the college president
And urged on him the rareness of these most precious things.
They could be wrapped in rugs, be packed and sent in boxes
And carried on only a few camels: ten stone drums
To grace the Imperial Temple like the Incense-Pot of Gao --
Or their lustre and their value would increase a hundredfold,
If the monarch would present them to the university,
Where students could study them and doubtless decipher them,
And multitudes, attracted to the capital of culture
Prom all corners of the Empire, would be quick to gather.
We could scour the moss, pick out the dirt, restore the original surface,
And lodge them in a fitting and secure place for ever,
Covered by a massive building with wide eaves
Where nothing more might happen to them as it had before.
...But government officials grow fixed in their ways
And never will initiate beyond old precedent;
So herd- boys strike the drums for fire, cows polish horns on them,
With no one to handle them reverentially.
Still ageing and decaying, soon they may be effaced.
Six years I have sighed for them, chanting toward the west....
The familiar script of Wang Xizhi, beautiful though it was,
Could be had, several pages, just for a few white geese,
But now, eight dynasties after the Zhou, and all the wars over,
Why should there be nobody caring for these drums?
The Empire is at peace, the government free.
Poets again are honoured and Confucians and Mencians....
Oh, how may this petition be carried to the throne?
It needs indeed an eloquent flow, like a cataract-
But, alas, my voice has broken, in my song of the stone drums,
To a sound of supplication choked with its own tears.