My honored friends, O do not deem
  Your rest which seems secure from ill
    Will ever last! 
  Your duties quietly fulfil,
  And hold the upright in esteem,
    With friendship fast. 
  So shall the Spirits hear your cry,
  You virtuous make, and good supply,
    In measure vast.

  My honored friends, O do not deem
  Repose that seems secure from ill
    Will lasting prove. 
  Your duties quietly fulfil,
  And hold the upright in esteem,
    With earnest love. 
  So shall the Spirits hear your prayer,
  And on you happiness confer,
    Your hopes above.

BOOK VII

DECADE OF SANG HOO

The Rejoicings of a Bridegroom

  With axle creaking, all on fire I went,
   To fetch my young and lovely bride. 
  No thirst or hunger pangs my bosom rent—­
   I only longed to have her by my side. 
  I feast with her, whose virtue fame had told,
  Nor need we friends our rapture to behold.

  The long-tailed pheasants surest covert find,
   Amid the forest on the plain. 
  Here from my virtuous bride, of noble mind,
   And person tall, I wisdom gain. 
  I praise her while we feast, and to her say,
  “The love I bear you ne’er will know decay.

  “Poor we may be; spirits and viands fine
   My humble means will not afford. 
  But what we have, we’ll taste and not repine;
   From us will come no grumbling word. 
  And though to you no virtue I can add,
  Yet we will sing and dance, in spirit glad.

  “I oft ascend that lofty ridge with toil,
   And hew large branches from the oaks;
  Then of their leafy glory them I spoil,
   And fagots form with vigorous strokes. 
  Returning tired, your matchless grace I see,
  And my whole soul dissolves in ecstasy.

  “To the high hills I looked, and urged each steed;
   The great road next was smooth and plain.

  Up hill, o’er dale, I never slackened speed;
    Like lute-string sounded every rein. 
  I knew, my journey ended, I should come
  To you, sweet bride, the comfort of my home.”

Against Listening to Slanderers

  Like the blueflies buzzing round,
    And on the fences lighting,
  Are the sons of slander found,
    Who never cease their biting. 
  O thou happy, courteous king,
  To the winds their slanders fling.

  Buzzing round the blueflies hear,
    About the jujubes flocking! 
  So the slanderers appear,
    Whose calumnies are shocking. 
  By no law or order bound,
  All the kingdom they confound.

  How they buzz, those odious flies,
    Upon the hazels clust’ring! 
  And as odious are the lies
    Of those slanderers blust’ring. 
  Hatred stirred between us two
  Shows the evil they can do.