[updated September 2022]
Mosquitoes and Frogs
蚊 蟆
巴 微 炎 毒 早
三 月 蚊 蟆 生。
咂 肤 拂 不 去
绕 耳 薨 薨 声。
斯 物 颇 微 细
中 人 初 甚 轻。
如 有 肤 受 谮
久 则 疮 痏 成。
痏 成 无 奈 何
所 要 防 其 萌。
幺 虫 何 足 道
潜 喻 儆 人 情。
Wen Ma
Ba wei yan du zao
San yue wen ma sheng.
Za fu fu bu qu
Rao er hong hong sheng.
Si wu po wei xi
Zong ren chu shen qing.
Ru you fu shou zen
Jiu ze chuang you cheng.
You cheng wu nai he
Suo yao fang qi meng.
Yao chong he zu dao
Qian yu jing ren qing.
Mosquitoes and Frogs
Edge of town, early morning scorching hot and poisonous
Third lunar month, mosquitoes and frogs emerge.
Mosquitoes suck my skin, whisk and swat yet they still remain
Circling my ears with high-pitched sounds.
These animals very tiny and trivial
Their initial bites are easy and few.
Like suffering from skin-deep slanders
After a long time they change into welts.
Cannot prevent these welts from forming
This place demands abatement before germination.
Rather pointless to discuss these small insects
While the underneath analogies point to human affairs.