[updated September 2022]
Village Life Easily Suffers From the Cold
村 居 苦 寒
八 年 十 二 月
五 日 雪 纷 纷。
竹 柏 皆 冻 死
况 彼 无 衣 民。
回 观 村 闾 间
十 室 八 九 贫。
北 风 利 如 剑
布 絮 不 蔽 身。
唯 烧 蒿 棘 火
愁 坐 夜 得 晨。
乃 知 大 寒 岁
农 者 尤 苦 辛。
顾 我 当 此 日
草 堂 深 掩 门。
褐 裘 覆 絁 被
坐 卧 有 余 温。
辛 免 饥 冻 苦
又 无 垅 亩 勤。
念 彼 深 可 愧
自 问 是 何 人！
Cun Ju Ku Han
Ba nian shi er yue
Wu ri xue fen fen.
Zhu bai jie dong si
Kuang bi wu yi min.
Hui guan cun lu jian
Shi shi ba jiu pin.
Bei feng li ru jian
Bu xu bu bi shen.
Wei shao hao ji huo
Chou zuo ye de chen.
Nai zhi da han sui
Nong zhe you ku xin.
Gu wo dang ci ri
Cao tang shen yan men.
He qiu fu shi bei
Zuo wo you yu wen.
Xin mian ji dong ku
You wu long mu qin.
Nian bi shen ke kui
Zi wen shi he ren!
Village Life Easily Suffers From the Cold
Eighth year of the emperor’s reign, twelfth lunar month
Last five days, one snow storm after another.
Bamboo and cypress trees all frozen to death
Situation reveals people with not enough clothes.
Return to see what is in between village lanes
Of thousands of households, eight or nine are poor.
Northern winds as sharp as a sword
Cotton padding not able to cover and warm the whole body.
They only can burn wormwood and thorny bushes
All evening sit inside and wait for the morning.
Then realize this year’s winter long and cold
Farmers especially a hard and painful existence.
The difficult days also visit me
Deep layers of straw packed against my interior doors
Coarse fur coats cover our beds like a coarse quilt
Whether I sit or lay down, can keep warm enough.
So far avoided the bitterness of cold and hunger
Do not need to harvest a small garden of winter vegetables.
Thinking of others, I feel a bit of shame
Naturally ask myself if I am good or bad!
Notes:
Eighth year of the emperor’s reign: 813 AD