University of Virginia Library

Great and wide Heaven ,
How is it you have contracted your kindness ,
Sending down death and famine ,
Destroying all through the kingdom ?
Compassionate Heaven , arrayed in terrors ,
How is it you exercise no forethought , no care ?
Let alone the criminals :—
They have suffered for their offences ;
But those who have no crime ,
Are indiscriminately involved in ruin .

The honoured House of Zhou is [nearly] extinguished ,
And there is no means of stopping or settling [the troubles] .
The Heads of the officers have left their places ,
And no one knows my toil .
The three high ministers , and [other] great officers ,
Are unwilling [to attend to their duties] early and late .
The lords of the various States ,
Are unwilling [to appear at court] morning and evening .
If indeed he would turn to good ,—
But on the contrary he proceeds to [greater] evil .

How is it , O great Heaven ,
That he will not hearken to the justest words ?
He is like a man going [astray] ,
[Who knows] not where he will proceed to .
All ye officers ,
Let each of you reverently attend to his duties .
How do ye not stand in awe of one another ?
Ye do not stand in awe of Heaven .

War has done its work , but he withdraws not [from evil] ;
Famine has done its work , but he goes not on [to good] ;
So that I , a [mere] groom of the chambers ,
Am full of grief and in pain daily .
All ye officers ,
Ye are unwilling to declare [the truth to him] .
When you hear a question , you [simply] answer it ,
And when slander touches you , you withdraw .

Alas that [right words] cannot be spoken ,
Which come not from the tongue [only] !
The speakers of them are sure to suffer .
Well is it for the words that can be spoken !
The artful speech flows like a stream ,
And the speakers dwell at ease in prosperity .

It may be said about taking office ,
That it is full of hazard and peril .
By [advice] that he says cannot be followed ,
You offend against the Son of Heaven .
By advice that he says will be followed ,
You excite the resentment of your friends .

I say to you , ' Remove to the royal capital , '
And ye say that you have not got houses there .
Painful are my inmost thoughts , and I weep blood ;—
Every word I speak makes me hated ;
But when you formerly left to reside elsewhere ,
Who was it that made houses for you ?