《Back to Nature (I) 》 Tao Qian(365-427)
少無適俗韻 In youth I had little interest in worldly affairs
性本愛丘山 By nature hills and rills I care
誤落塵網中 Foolishly I later fell in mundane snares
一去三十年 And got entangled for thirteen long years Continue reading
有生必有死 早終非命促
昨暮同爲人 今旦在鬼錄
魂氣散何之 枯形寄空木
嬌兒索父啼 良友撫我哭
得失不複知 是非安能覺
千秋萬歲後 誰知榮與辱
但恨在世時 飲酒不得足
《Elegy》Tao Qian (365-427) 江紹倫譯
To live is to accept death in peace
The day will come when I last breath
Last night we are together as man
This morn we are in Ghost Registrar’s hand
Whither I wonder will go my soul
In a decaying box my body is a load
My children seek their father in grief
Friends see my corps cry and heave
Loss or gain I no longer care
Rights and wrongs not my affair
After ten thousand years have passed away
Who will know my glory or disgrace
I regret while living still
Mellow brews I fail to drink my fill
結盧在人境 而無車馬喧
問君何能爾 心遠地自偏
採菊東籬下 悠然見南山
山氣日夕佳 飛鳥相與還
此中有真意 欲辨已忘言
Drink Tao Qian (365–427) tr By S L Kong
Amid man’s haunted environs I have my chalet
Where noises of hoofs and wheels are kept away
Asked how such a place could achieve serenity
A detached mind can create peace naturally
At dawn I pick daisies by the fence at will
And watch the beauty of the southern hill
Where the mountain air so fresh is here to stay
Birds leave and return to their nests day after day
Herein rests the true meaning of life
If need be told words have escaped from my mind
Drinking Wine
I made my home amidst this human bustle,
Yet I hear no clamour from the carts and horses.
My friend, you ask me how this can be so?
A distant heart will tend towards like places.
From the eastern hedge, I pluck chrysanthemum flowers,
And idly look towards the southern hills.
The mountain air is beautiful day and night,
The birds fly back to roost with one another.
I know that this must have some deeper meaning,
I try to explain, but cannot find the words.
種豆南山下 草盛豆苗稀
晨興理荒穢 帶月荷鋤歸
道狹草木長 夕露沾我衣
衣沾不足惜 但使願無違
Back to Nature III Tao Qian (365–427) tr By S L Kong
At the foot of the southern hills growing beans I try
Bean stalks soon wilt while grass thrive
To clear the weeds I early rise
Hoe on shoulder I return home by night
Narrow are the paths where shrubs grow tall
My clothes are soaked when heavy dews fall
It matters not if I’m wet
So long as my life goals are met