Tao Chien Poems

When young, I'd not enjoyed the common pleasures,
My nature's basic love was for the hills.
Mistakenly I fell into the worldly net,
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My home was formerly at Shangching,
And six years ago I left it.
Only today I return,
And I am deeply moved and sad.
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I sow my beans below the southern hills,
Though grasses flourish, the sprouting beans are scarce.
I rise at dawn to clear the wasteland up,
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In the summer grass and trees have grown.
Over my roof the branches meet.
Birds settle in the leaves.
I enjoy my humble place.
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An empty boat glides on without oars,
Returning to the infinite.
At the year's start, I gae here and there,
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Though life is brief, feeling is everlasting;
That is why man wants to live long.
The sun and moon follow the stars.
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I made my home amidst this human bustle,
Yet I hear no clamour from the carts and horses.
My friend, you ask me how this can be so?
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Slowly autumn comes to an end.
Painfully cold a dawn wind thicks the dew.
Grass round here will not be green again,
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Destiny and life both have an ending;
From of old it has been so.
In this world there was a stately pine,
And where is it now?
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How fair, the lingering clouds!
How misty, the seasonal rain!
Darkness fills the universe,
Blurring the level pathway.
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