Inside Boredom, Chant About My Thoughts and Feelings
端 居 咏 怀
贾 生 俟 罪 心 相 似
张 翰 思 归 事 不 如。
斜 日 早 知 惊 鹏 鸟
秋 风 悔 不 忆 鲈 鱼。
胸 襟 曾 贮 匡 时 策
怀 袖 犹 残 谏 猎 书。
从 此 万 缘 都 摆 落
欲 携 妻 子 买 山 居。
Duan Ju Yong Huai
Gu sheng si zui xin xiang si
Zhang han si gui shi bu ru.
Xie ri zao zhi jing peng niao
Qiu feng hui bu yi lu yu.
Xiong jin ceng zhu kuang shi ce
Huai xiu you can jian lie shu.
Cong ci wan yuan dou bai luo
Yu xie qi zi mai shan ju.
Inside Boredom, Chant About My Thoughts and Feelings
Jia Yi’s life full of waiting, heart-mind with pain
Zhang Han thinks constantly of going home, never to return to his hometown fish.
Setting sun startles the peng birds into a realization
Autumn winds, no regrets eating the hometown perch.
My state of mind after passing the imperial essay exams
Think of my sleeves so full of ideas on how to eliminate corruption.
Lay down all of these desires, follow instead the sayings of Buddha
Hope to take along my wife and children to buy a mountain dwelling.
Notes:
Jia Yi: (200-169 BC) Writer, poet and politician of the Western Han dynasty. Famous as the author of “Lament for Qu Yuan”.
Zhang Han: (?-205 BC) Military general during the end of the Qin Dynasty.
Peng birds: Giant mythological bird that transforms into a giant fish. Zhuangzi used these in the first section of his Inner Chapters.
