Easily I Threw Away The Eating-Drinking-And-Be-Merry Life Poem by East Sea Fairy Xing Yi

By LIU-YongTranslated by East Sea Fairy

Easily I threw away, much to my regret,
the eating-drinking-and-be-merry life in the capital city
Now sheltering I'm for the night on the fret,
near a hovels-dotted little village misty,
alone on a pleasure boat which is painted gaily.
The old fisherman comes back home from fishing deep at night
in one or two lights burning darkly.
Sobering up off the nightly drunkenness in a grief-stricken plight,
half-lying with nobody to turn to, I pull up the quilt for another sleep with main and might.

Yet in dreaminess, I hear once more a sound.
That is the scudding of a traveler's boat winged near.
Me the swift-as-arrow sweep does astound.
So astounding it is that my fond dream is suddenly broken mere.
Bethinking of the wandering life drear,
and these years I've inhabited in loneliness quite,
I feel so deeply touched by the mixed emotions clear
and the desperate yearning for her at that moment aright,
that I throw on my clothes and sit up till I see the first ray of daylight.