Sao P oe t ry : t He Lyr i cS of c h u 45
When the time had come, I would reap a fine harvest. 愿竢時乎吾將刈 (yuàn sì shí hū wú jiāng yì)
55 Though they wither and die, how would that hurt me? 雖萎絕其亦何傷兮 (suī wĕi jué qí yì hé shāng xi)
But I grieve to see these blossoms waste in rank weeds. 哀眾芳之蕪穢 (āi zhòng fāng zhī wú huì)
All others press forward in greed and gluttony, 眾皆競進以貪婪兮 (zhòng jiē jìng jìn yĭ tān lán xi)
No surfeit satiating their demands: 憑不厭乎求索 (píng bú yàn hū qiú suŏ)
Forgiving themselves, but harshly judging others, 羌內恕己以量人兮 (qiāng nèi shù jĭ yĭ liáng rén xi)
60 Each fretting his heart away in envy and malice. 各興心而嫉妒 (gè xīng xīn ér jí dù)
Madly they rush in the covetous chase, 忽馳騖以追逐兮 (hū chí wù yĭ zhuī zhú xi)
But not after that which my heart sets store by. 非余心之所急 (fēi yú xīn zhī suŏ jí)
For old age comes creeping and soon will be upon me, 老冉冉其將至兮 (lăo răn răn qí jiāng zhì xi)
And I fear I shall not leave behind an enduring name. 恐脩名之不立 (kŏng xiū míng zhī bù lì)
65 In the morning I drank the dew that fell from the
magnolia, 朝飲木蘭之墜露兮 (zhāo yĭn mù lán zhī zhuì lù xi)
At evening ate the petals that dropped from
chrysanthemums, 夕餐秋菊之落英 (xī cān qiū júzhī luò yīng)
If only my mind can be truly pure and beautiful, 苟余情其信姱以練要兮 (gŏu yú qíng qí xìn kuā yĭ liàn yào xi)
It matters nothing that I often faint for famine. 長顑頷亦何傷 (cháng kăn hàn yì hé shāng)
I pulled up roots to bind the valerian, 擥木根以結茝兮 (lăn mù gēn yĭ jié zhĭ xi)
70 And thread the castor plant’s fallen clusters with. 貫薜荔之落蕊 (guàn pì lì zhī luò ruĭ)
I trimmed sprays of cassia for plaiting melilotus, 矯菌桂以紉蕙兮 (jiăo jūn guì yĭ rèn huì xi)
And knotted the lithe, light trails of ivy. 索胡繩之纚纚 (suŏ hú shéng zhī lí lí)
I take my fashion from the good men of old: 謇吾法夫前脩兮 (jiăn wú fă fú qián xiū xi)
A garb unlike that which the rude world cares for. 非世俗之所服 (fēi shì sú zhī suŏ fú)
75 Though it may not accord with present-day manners, 雖不周于今之人兮 (suī bù zhōu yú jīn zhī rén xi)
I will follow the model that Peng Xian has left. 願依彭咸之遺則 (yuàn yī péng xián zhī yí zé)
This section continues to develop the theme of moral cultivation in conjunction
with the floral symbolism introduced earlier, but with a twist. The various flowers
and plants mentioned in lines 49–52 seem to represent not only the poet himself
but also his former comrades. Despite his constant efforts in “cultivating” them,
most in the end failed him, making him “grieve to see these blossoms waste in
rank weeds.” But the poet is undeterred by their shameful transformation and
forges ahead with his good care of the fragrant flowers (lines 69–72). Lines 64 and
65 take up again the introduced motif of the quick, irrevocable passage of time,
but this time the poet specifies for us the fear that it causes in him, which is that
he may not be able to “leave behind an enduring name.” This reiterates his desire
to “show the way” to his king and serve his state, which was regarded as one of the
best means of passing one’s name down to posterity in ancient China. But then
a few lines later, his alienation from the world around him causes him to ponder
another radical alternative: to leave it behind altogether. The reference to Peng
Xian in line 76 is ambiguous because of his duality as a historical figure and a sha-
man master. The dominant view, advanced by Wang Yi, is that Peng Xian was an
upright minister during the Shang dynasty. When his loyal advice to his king was
ignored, he drowned himself in protest. Another view is that he was a master sha-