In Qianzhou, Eighty-Three Year Old Lu Yi, Former Petty Government Official, Still Reads Books, Writes Poems, Has Not Stopped Collecting Ancient Paintings and Manuscripts, Therefore is Close to Poverty and Hunger
虔 州 吕 倚 承 事， 年 八 十 三， 读 书 作 诗 不 已， 好 收 古 今 贴， 贫 甚， 至 食 不 足
扬 雄 老 无 子
冯 衍 终 不 遇。
不 识 孔 方 兄
但 有 灵 沼 女。
家 藏 古 今 帖
墨 色 照 箱 筥。
饥 来 据 空 案
一 字 不 堪 煮。
枯 肠 五 千 卷
磊 落 相 撑 拄。
吟 为 蜩 蛩 声
时 有 岛 可 句。
为 语 里 长 者
德 齿 敬 已 古。
如 翁 有 几 人
薄 少 可 时 助。
Qian Zhou Lu Yi Cheng Shi, Nian Ba Shi San, Du Shu Zuo Shi Bu Yi, Hao Shou Gu Jin Tie, Pin Shen, Zhi Shi Bu Zu
Yang xiong lao wu zi
Feng yan zhong bu yu.
Bu shi kong fang xiong
Dan you ling zhao nu.
Jia cang gu jin tie
Mo se zhao xiang ju.
Ji lai ju kong an
Yi zi bu kan zhu.
Ku chang wu gan juan
Lei luo xiang cheng zhu.
Yin wei tiao qiong sheng
Shi you dao ke ju.
Wei yu li chang zhe
De chi jing yi gu.
Ru weng you ji ren
Bo xiao ke shi zhu.
In Qianzhou, Eighty-Three Year Old Lu Yi, Former Petty Government Official, Still Reads Books, Writes Poems, Has Not Stopped Collecting Ancient Paintings and Manuscripts, Therefore is Close to Poverty and Hunger
Like Yang Xiong, old and without children
He and Feng Yan never able to meet each other.
Lu Yi without a mind for money accumulation
Yet you still have your daughter.
House full of ancient to modern collectibles
Baskets hold many books with several ink colors.
When hunger arrives, the kitchen table empty
Cannot sell even one page to buy food.
Skin and bones, five thousand scrolls
Jumbled and piled scrolls holding each other up.
His poetic chants, brilliant cicada and cricket sounds
Like the natural sentences of Dao and Ke.
Had words with the local civil servants
Need to honor and respect the ancient morality and old people.
Like this man, so few are they in number
Sometimes they need a little bit of help from the community.
Notes:
Qianzhou: Ancient prefecture in the current province of Jiangxi.
Yang Xiong: (53 BC-18 AD) Major poet, politician and philosopher during the Western Han dynasty. Famous for his fu (prose poems) and work on the Confucian Analects and the Yi Jing (aka the I Ching).