Young Bees
蜂 儿
蜜 蜂 不 食 人 间 仓
玉 露 为 酒 花 为 粮。
作 蜜 不 忙 采 花 忙
蜜 成 犹 带 百 花 香。
蜜 成 万 蜂 不 敢 尝
要 输 蜜 国 供 蜂 王。
蜂 王 未 及 享
人 已 割 蜜 房。
老 蜜 已 成 蜡
嫩 蜜 方 成 蜜。
蜜 房 蜡 片 割 无 余
老 饕 更 来 搜我 室。
老 蜂 无 味 只 有 滓
幼 蜂 初 花 未 成 儿。
老 饕 火 攻 不 知 止
既 毁 我 室 取 我 子!
Feng Er
Mi feng bu shi ren jian cang
Yu lu wei jiu hua wei liang.
Zuo mi bu mang cai hua mang
Mi cheng you dai bai hua xiang.
Mi cheng wan feng bu gan chang
Yao shu mi guo gong feng wang.
Feng wang wei ji xiang
Ren yi ge mi fang.
Lao mi yi cheng la
Nen mi fang cheng mi.
Mi fang la pian ge wu yu
Lao tao geng lai shou wo shi.
Lao feng wu wei zhi you zi
You feng chu hua wei cheng er.
Lao tao huo gong bu zhi zhi
Ji hui wo shi qu wo zi!
Young Bees
Honey bees do not compete for the food inside storehouses
They drink the jade-like dew as if wine, and touch the grain flowers.
On arising, not busy making honey, but rather gathering pollen
Honey produced from a zone of one hundred different fragrant blossoms.
Thousands of honey bees do not dare to taste their own honey
Important they carry food to supply the hive’s queen bee.
The queen has yet to take her share
People have already cut into the honeycomb.
By now the old honey has turned into wax
Only delicate honey methods can produce good honey.
No surplus of the old honeycombs
The old and greedy look for our honey inside our homes.
Old drones can only taste the dregs
Young bees not yet able to fight or reproduce.
The old and greedy after raiding the hives, burn them down to the ground
Our destroyed buildings everywhere along with the king’s next-in-line.
Notes:
This poem is an allegory for the life and times of Wang, as well as the people of his country. The young bees are the hard-working farmers and workers of society. The queen is the emperor-monarch of the land. While the old and greedy are the northern marauders of the Jin Dynasty.