Monday, September 02, 2013
Nothing Wrong With It
Yang Yün (1st century B.C.), letter to Sun Hui-tsung, in Han Shu, chapter 66, tr. Burton Watson, Early Chinese Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 1962), p. 118 (footnote omitted):
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After I have had something to drink and my ears are beginning to burn, I gaze up at the sky and, thumping on a crock to keep time, I give a great "ya-a!" and sing this song:
I sowed the southern hillAt such times I flap my robes in delight, waves my sleeves up and down, stamp my feet, and dance about. Indeed it is a wild and unconventional way to behave, and yet I cannot say that I see anything wrong with it.
But I could not keep back the weeds.
I planted an acre of beans
But they fell off the vine, leaving empty stems.
Man's life should be spent in joy.
Why wait in vain for wealth and honor?
