2.

Ye travelers, to you I cry
For kindly aid and sympathy.
Unheeding still ye pass me by.

3.

In vain. Your help I may not claim.
Strangers ye are, and not the same
As those who bear my father's name.

SONG SEVEN

LOYALTY TRIED HARD

Oh mighty prince, with robe of fur and leopard cuffs bedecked,

Why treat your humble vassals with unkindness and neglect?
Can we find no other master? Yes, but 'tis a bitter thing
To break old ties, forget old loves, and serve another king.

SONG EIGHT

ANXIETY FOR THE ABSENT ONES

1.

Listen, in the grove I hear

Sounds of many a rustling wing.

'Tis the wild geese, who appear
As the harbingers of spring.

2.

Warmer weather is at hand.
By their coming here they warn
Husbandmen to sow their land;
Plant their millet, rice, and corn.

3.

I may neither plant nor sow,
Nor prepare the year's supply.

And for all that I can do,
Those at home may starve and die.

VOL. XI.-10.

4.

For the men who serve the king,
By their weight of work opprest,
May not cease from laboring,
Must not snatch a moment's rest.

5.

Powers of the azure heights, may we,
Blest by you, return again
To our hearths and homes, to be
Men among our fellow-men.

SONG NINE

CLOTHES OR ROBES

I have no clothes at all, you declare!
You are wrong; I have plenty, you see.
They may not be so rich or so rare
As your own, but they're excellent wear,
And warm, and do nicely for me.

• This is a corrupt fragment of text, consisting in the Chinese version of two short stanzas which, literally translated, run as follows: Stanza 1, "How do you say there are no clothes (or robes)? There are seven. Not equal to yours but quiet and auspicious." Stanza 2, "How do you say there are no clothes (or robes)? There are six. Not equal to yours, but quiet and durable wear." Still, all the commentators translate Yi as "robes," and explain the piece as follows: The civil war in Chin was finished 678 в.с. by the success of Duke Wu. He appealed to King Hsi to confirm him in his position, to which request the king, influenced, it is said, by bribery, consented, and appointed him Marquis of Chin. The poem, therefore, is the appeal of Wu's followers that their master should be supported by the king's authority, and is supposed to be addressed to the royal envoy. Put into verse in this sense, it would run thus:

Say you, he does not possess
Symbols of authority,
Robes of State? I tell you, yes,
Seven robes of State has he.

But should our great king bestow
Such gifts on him at your hand,
All the realm would see and know
And obey his high command.

SONG TEN

1.

On the left-hand side of the pathway
A pear-tree stands all alone.

Where the road forms a sudden angle,
Is the shade of its branches thrown.

2.

Would he come to me there, the sweetheart

I love to my heart's mid core,

We would travel the road together,

And never be parted more.

3.

But, alas! I am poor and friendless;
No coin in the world have I.

And my larder is bare and empty,

And my cellar has quite run dry.

SONG ELEVEN

THE WIDOW

1.

The trailing creepers shroud the thorns in gloom, The wild vines spreading o'er the wasted plains

But mock my sorrow, for they hide the tomb

Which holds my lord's remains,

2.

My husband. Oh, the night when first we met,
My head lay on the pillow at his side.
They threw the splendid broidered coverlet
O'er bridegroom and his bride.

3.

By me must now long days of summer heat, Long winter nights, in loneliness be passed. But though I live a hundred years, we'll meet Within the grave at last.

SONG TWELVE

BEWARE SLANDER

Should some one bid you climb and seek
On Shou Yang's topmost peak 7
For liquorice shoots, and say, “Below
You'll find the mustard grow."
You'd laugh and tell him you despise
Such foolish, childish lies.

To every story which you hear
Give no assenting ear.

Nor list to each malicious lie,
But coldly pass it by.

Thus every cruel, slanderous tale
Will prove of no avail.

THE SHIH KING

PART II

SONGS FOR THE LESSER FESTIVALS

SONG ONE

A FESTAL SONG 1

1.

As we sit down to feast, from the meadow hard by,
Hark! the stags as they browse call a musical cry.
We have music as well. Let no organ be mute;
Let us gladden our hearts with the sound of the lute.

2.

Now hand round the dainties to each honored guest; The friends who love me, and the friends I love best. They are models and patterns to all, for they show The respect we should feel for the humble and low.

3.

Bid the music begin, and the lutes great and small
Be struck till their sweet notes resound through the hall.
And pour out the wine - it is plentiful here.
Thus all the day long we'll enjoy the good cheer.

SONG TWO

THE ROYAL BEHEST 2

1.

My white steeds gallop along the way.
Small leisure have I to stop or rest.