Tuesday, July 06, 2010
What Did I Gain?
Ch'ang Kuo Fan, On His Thirty-Third Birthday (tr. Kenneth Rexroth):
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More than thirty years have rushed
By me like a runaway
Chariot. I too have spent
My life rushing here and there
From one end of the country
To the other. I long for
The homestead where I was born,
A thousand mountain ranges
Away. Like yellow leaves in
The decline of Summer a
Few white hairs have already
Appeared on my head. All my
Travels only made tracks
In drifting sand. I piled up
Learning like a snowball.
I crossed mountains and passed
Examinations and gave
Learned speeches. What did I gain?
Better I stayed home
And raised prize melons.
