University of Virginia Library

With flapping wings the crows ,
Come back , flying all in a flock .
Other people all are happy ,
And I only am full of misery .
What is my offence against Heaven ?
What is my crime ?
My heart is sad ;—
What is to be done ?

The way to Zhou should be level and easy ,
But it is all overgrown with rank grass .
My heart is wounded with sorrow ,
And I think till I feel as if pounded [all over] .
I lie down undressed , and sigh continually ;
Through my grief I am growing old .
My heart is sad ;—
It puts me in pain like a headache .

Even the mulberry trees and the Zi ,
Must be regarded with reverence :
But no one is to be looked up to like a father ;
No one is to be depended on like a mother .
Have I not a connection with the hairs [of my father] ?
Did I not dwell in the womb [of my mother] ?
O Heaven who gave me birth !
How was it at such an inauspicious time ?

Luxuriant grow those willows ,
And the cicadas [on them] go hui-hui .
Deep looks the pool ,
And abundantly grow the rushes and reeds [about it] ,
[But] I am like a boat adrift ,—
Where it will go you know not .
My heart is sad ;—
I have not leisure to lie down [even] undressed .

The stag is running away ,
But his legs move slowly .
The pheasant crows in the morning ,
Seeking his mate .
I am like a ruined tree ,
Stript by disease of all its branches .
My heart is sad ;—
How is it that no one knows me ?

Look at the hare seeking protection ;—
Some one will step in before and save it .
One the road there is a dead man ;
Some one will bury him .
[But] such is the heart of our sovereign ,
That there is nothing he cannot bear to do .
My heart is sad ,
So that my tears are falling down .

Our sovereign believes slanders ,
As readily as he joins in the pledge cup .
Our sovereign is unkind ,
And does not leisurely examine into things .
The tree-fellers follow the lean of the tree ;
The faggot-cleavers follow the direction of the grain ;
[But] he lets alone the guilty ,
And imputes guilt to me .

There is nothing higher than a mountain ;
There is nothing deeper than a [great] spring .
Our sovereign should not lightly utter his words ,
Lest an ear be laid close to the wall .
Do not approach my dam ;
Do not remove my basket .
My person is rejected ;—
Of what use is it to care for what may come after ?