[updated September 2022]
Return to Live in Gardens and Fields: Five Poems: No. 5
其 五
怅 恨 独 策 还
崎 岖 历 榛 曲。
山 涧 清 且 浅
遇 以 濯 我 足。
漉 我 新 熟 酒
只 鸡 招 近 局。
日 人 室 中 暗
荆 薪 代 明 烛。
欢 来 苦 夕 短
已 复 至 天 旭。
Qi Wu
Chang hen du ce hai
Qi qu li zhen qu.
Shan jian qing qie qian
Yu yi zhuo wo zu.
Lu wo xin shu jiu
Zhi ji zhao jin ju.
Ri ru shi zhong an
Jing xin dai ming zhu.
Huan lai ku xi duan
Yi fu zhi wu xu.
Return to Live in Gardens and Fields: Five Poems: No. 5
With disappointment and regret, alone and holding a walking stick, return home
Rugged and rough, back and forth through the thick undergrowth.
Mountain ravine water quiet, also shallow
Can wash my hands and feet.
Filter my newly processed wine
Kill one chicken, invite neighbors over for a party.
Sun drops behind the mountains, the rooms darken
Have to burn bush branches, instead of candles for illumination.
Happiness arrives, yet like the sunset, is painfully brief
Later on, the sky will alight with the rising sun.
Commentary:
Filtering new wine, rice wine, was the freshest, and therefore the best kind of wine to have. Then to kill a chicken, along with the wine, was truly an unusual event for Tao. Burning bushes for light inside his dwelling is true poverty.