Drinking Wine: Twenty Poems: No. 2
饮 酒： 二 十 首
积 善 云 有 报
夷 叔 在 西 山。
善 恶 苟 不 应
何 事 立 空 言？
九 十 行 带 索
饥 寒 况 当 年。
不 赖 固 穷 节
百 世 当 谁 传？
Yin Jiu: Er Shi Shou
Ji shan yun you bao
Yi shu zai xi shan
Shan wu gou bu ying
He shi li kong yan ?
Jiu shi xing dai su
Ji han kuang dang nian
Bu lai gu qiong jie
Bai shi dang shei chuan ?
Drinking Wine: Twenty Poems: No. 2
They say the accumulation of good deeds will all come back to you
Princes Yi and Shu existed in the western mountains.
Some times good deeds are not reciprocated
How can they teach these empty words?
One ninety year old man traveled with simple clothes
Colder and hungrier than in the prime years of his life.
No blame for being poor, yet hold on to moral integrity
Who should continue to talk of him after hundreds of generations?
Notes:
Princes Yi and Shu: Brothers who were heirs to the Shang Dynasty throne near it’s conclusion (ca. 1046 BC). Instead of assuming their royal duties and implicitly accepting the regime’s dishonorable ways, they chose instead to flee into the western mountains. Here they ultimately starved to death. They are still remembered for their personal and moral virtue, pacifism, and loyalty to their principles.