A Poem of Sorrow Dedicated to Secretaries Pang and Deng
怨诗楚调示庞主簿邓治中
Remote and obscure is the Heaven’s way
While ghosts and gods oft lead the men astray.
At fifteen I began to do good deeds;
At fifty-four I still stick to my creeds.
天道幽且远，鬼神茫昧然。
结发念善事，僶俛六九年。
At twenty in hard times I lived my life;
At thirty years of age I lost my wife.
The scorching sun destroys the yearly yields
While locusts run rampant in the fields.
弱冠逢世阻，始室丧其偏。
炎火屡焚如，螟蜮恣中田。
When wind and storm destroy the rice and wheat，
I can hardly keep my both ends meet.
Starved in summer I am in a plight
And have no quilts for the winter night.
风雨纵横至，收敛不盈廛。
夏日长抱饥，寒夜无被眠。
At dusk I sit and wait for cocks to crow;
At dawn I hope that darkness will soon grow.
I myself, not the heaven, am to blame,
But live through care and sorrow all the same.
造夕思鸡鸣，及晨愿鸟迁。
在己何怨天，离忧凄目前。
Vain is posthumous name that rings aloud,
Which I regard as merely floating cloud.
Alone I write this poem of woe that never ends,
For Pang and Deng, indeed my bosom friends.
吁嗟身後名，於我若浮烟。
慷慨独悲歌，锺期信为贤。