Written on My Return to Office as I Stop over the Night in Tukou on My Way to Jiangling
辛丑岁七月赴假还江陵夜行涂口
For thirty years I’ve lived a leisured life
And always kept aloof from worldly strife.
I take the poems and books as my pursuit
For a tranquil rural life without dispute.
闲居三十载，遂与尘事冥。
诗书敦夙好，园林无世情。
Why on earth should I drop the pleasant thing
And take the long way south to far-off Jing!
When under autumn moon the boat sets sail,
To my friends on shore I wave and hail.
如何舍此去，遥遥至西荆！
叩栧新秋月，临流别友生。
A cool breeze starts to blow at early night，
Against a pretty landscape clear and bright.
While the boundless skies are bright and neat
The river glitters like a flattened sheet.
凉风起将夕，夜景湛虚明。
昭昭天宇阔，皛皛川上平。
Official jobs deprive me of my sleep;
I am still on my way when night is deep.
As I am tired of worldly toil and moil,
I am tightly attached to native soil.
怀役不遑寐，中宵尚孤征。
商歌非吾事，依依在耦耕。
I shall resign from office and go home;
Ne'er shall I seek positions on a roam.
In rural life I'll keep my inborn frame;
By this 1 hope to have a better name.
投冠旋旧墟，不为好爵萦。
养真衡茅下，庶以善自名。