Book Room Bright and Warm, By the End of Day I Wear Old and Frumpy Things to Putter About, Tire of Holding My Cane, Then Write These Long Lines In My Small Garden
书 室 明 暖 终 日 婆 婆 其 间 倦 则 扶 杖 至 小 园 戏 作 长 句
美 睡 宜 人 胜 按 摩
江 南 十 月 气 犹 和。
重 帘 不 卷 留 香 久
古 砚 微 凹 聚 墨 多。
月 上 忽 看 梅 影 出
风 高 时 送 雁 声 过。
一 杯 太 淡 君 休 笑
牛 背 吾 方 扣 角 歌。
Shu Shi Ming Nuan Dong Ri Po Po Qi Jian Juan Ze Fu Zhang Zhi Xiao Yuan Xi Zuo Chang Ju
Mei shui yi ren sheng an mo
Jiang nan shi yue qi you he.
Chong lian bu juan liu xiang jiu
Gu yan wei ao ju mo duo.
Yue shang hu kan mei ying chu
Feng gao shi song yan sheng guo.
Yi bei tai dan jun xiu xiao
Niu bei wu fang kou jiao ge.
Book Room Bright and Warm, By the End of Day I Wear Old and Frumpy Things to Putter About, Tire of Holding My Cane, Then Write These Long Lines In My Small Garden
Successfully fall asleep like getting a massage
Tenth lunar month, Jiangnan air still warm and pleasant.
Double curtains not rolled up remain fragrant for a long time.
Ancient inkstone with a small depression holds a lot of ink.
Moon above, suddenly see plum blossom shadows come back
Season of high winds, send off migrating geese with sounds passing by.
Satisfied with more than one cup of weak wine, don’t make fun of my homemade brew
If only I could be like Ning Qi who sang his lines of struggling against being unjustly accused.
Notes:
Ning Qi: The name of man who appears in a story within the encyclopedic classic of Master Lu’s Spring and Autumn Annals . Compiled around 239 BC during the Qin Dynasty, it has 26 scrolls and 160 sections. It is a massive and comprehensive summary of Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism and Mohism philosophies. Subjects include music, finance, governance, agriculture, and savior faire.
In the story, Ning Qi wants to travel to, and then serve in the kingdom of Qi. He is so poor he has to hitch a ride with a traveling caravan of traders. To earn his keep, he helps with several duties. Arriving at the capital city, the entourage has to encamp outside the city walls. Seeing this band of outsiders, the Qi king goes outside the city gate to tell them to leave. Asleep under one the carts, Ning Qi awakens and later sings a sad song of not being welcomed. City people hearing his song, determine he is a good man, and then go outside to bring him and others inside the city walls.