Some have been
attributed
to Mei Sh?
Waley - 170 Chinese Poems
If you were carrying a "t? ng"[10]
And I were riding on a horse,
And one day we met in the road
I would get down for you.
[9] A peasant's coat made of straw.
[10] An umbrella under which a cheap-jack sells his wares.
(2)
Shang Ya!
I want to be your friend
For ever and ever without break or decay.
When the hills are all flat
And the rivers are all dry,
When it lightens and thunders in winter,
When it rains and snows in summer,
When Heaven and Earth mingle--
Not till then will I part from you.
BURIAL SONGS
(1)
"The dew on the garlic-leaf," sung at the burial of kings and
princes.
How swiftly it dries,
The dew on the garlic-leaf,
The dew that dries so fast
To-morrow will fall again.
But he whom we carry to the grave
Will never more return.
(2)
"The Graveyard," sung at the burial of common men.
What man's land is the graveyard?
It is the crowded home of ghosts,--
Wise and foolish shoulder to shoulder.
The King of the Dead claims them all;
Man's fate knows no tarrying.
SEVENTEEN OLD POEMS
The following seventeen poems are from a series known as the Nineteen
Pieces of Old Poetry.
Some have been attributed to Mei Sh? ng (first
century B. C. ), and one to Fu I (first century A. D. ). They are manifestly
not all by the same hand nor of the same date. Internal evidence shows
that No. 3 at least was written after the date of Mei Sh? ng's death.
These poems had an enormous influence on all subsequent poetry, and many
of the habitual _cliches_ of Chinese verse are taken from them. I have
omitted two because of their marked inferiority.
(1)
On and on, always on and on
Away from you, parted by a life-parting. [11]
Going from one another ten thousand "li,"
Each in a different corner of the World.
The way between is difficult and long,
Face to face how shall we meet again?
The Tartar horse prefers the North wind,
The bird from Yueh nests on the Southern branch.
