Li Yu: Middle of Illness Feelings

 

[updated November 2022]

 

Middle of Illness Feelings

 

病 中 感 怀
憔 悴 年 来 甚
萧 条 益 自 伤。
风 威 侵 病 骨
雨 气 咽 愁 肠。
夜 鼎 唯 煎 药
朝 髭 半 染 霜。
前 缘 竟 何 似
谁 与 问 空 王。
Bing Zhong Gan Huai

Qiao cui nian lai shen
Xiao tiao yi zi shang.
Feng wei qin bing gu
Yu qi yan chou chang.

Ye ding wei jian yao
Zhao zi ban ran shuang.
Qian yuan jing he si
Shei yu wen kong wang.

 

Middle of Illness Feelings

As the years arrive, increasingly ill and emaciated
More and more natural wounds on desolate twigs.
Strong winds infringe upon my sick bones
Rain moist air, melancholy stuck in my throat and insides.

Alone in the evening, stir frying medicine in a cooking vessel
By dawn, mustache half-dyed with frost.
Previous karma appears to not have led to a happy destiny
Who can help me to ask the heavenly authorities what I did wrong.