Send This Letter to Be Shared With Others in the Two Cities of Xian Hua
投简咸华两县诸子
赤 县 官 曹 拥 才 杰
软 袭 快 马 当 冰 雪。
长 安 苦 寒 谁 独 悲？
杜 陵 野 老 骨 欲 折。
南 山 豆 苗 早 荒 秽
青 门 瓜 地 新 冻 裂。
乡 里 儿 童 项 领 成
朝 廷 故 旧 礼 数 绝。
自 然 弃 掷 与 时 异
况 乃 疏 顽 临 事 拙。
饥 臥 动 即 向 一 旬
敝 衣 何 啻 联 百 结。
君 不 见 空 墙 日 色 晚
此 老 无 声 泪 垂 血！
Tou Jian Xian Hua Liang Xian Zhu Zi
Chi xian guan cao yong cai jie
Ruan xi kuai ma dang bing xue.
Chang an ku han shei du bei?
Du ling ye lao gu yu she.
Nan shan dou miao zao huang hui
Qing men gua di xin dong lie.
Xiang li er tong xiang ling cheng
Zhao ting gu jiu li shu jue.
Zi ran qi zhi yu shi yi
Kuang nai shu wan lin shi zhuo.
Ji wo dong ji xiang yi xun
Bi yi he chi lian bai jie.
Jun bu jian kong qiang ri se wan
Ci lao wu sheng lei chui xue!
Send This Letter to Be Shared With Others in the Two Cities of Xian Hua
Tier one Chinese city officials controlled by the palace eunuchs
In soft and mild weather they quickly ride their horses through ice and snow.
Who in Chang’an is suffering from the cold?
Around the open country of Duling my old bones also brittle.
Southern mountains, our beans sprouting early in the uncultivated soil
Even the melons of Qingmen have split open among the frozen and cracked earth.
Rural village children fantasize they are military heroes
At sunrise, in the imperial court has not passed on the morality and ritual of old.
The people have abandoned and cast out ziran
Unexpected and sudden situations arise to reveal the fool’s awkwardness.
Lie down with so much hunger, cannot move to write one line
Shabby clothes have been patched over and together one hundred times.
Can you not see that my walls have become empty and bare
This old man crying blood and tears in silence!
Notes:
Xian Hua: Area in northern Henan Province.
Duling: Area near the capital city of Chang’an.
Ziran: Nature with a capital N. The natural world, as well as the Daoist beliefs of Lao Zi for following the Way. The mode of spontaneity and naturalness.