[14] SICK LEAVE

[While Secretary to the Deputy-Assistant-Magistrate of Chou-chih, near Ch`ang-an, in A.D. 806]

    Propped on pillows, not attending to business;
    For two days I’ve lain behind locked doors. 
    I begin to think that those who hold office
    Get no rest, except by falling ill! 
    For restful thoughts one does not need space;
    The room where I lie is ten foot square. 
    By the western eaves, above the bamboo-twigs,
    From my couch I see the White Mountain rise. 
    But the clouds that hover on its far-distant peak
    Bring shame to a face that is buried in the World’s dust.

[15] WATCHING THE REAPERS

[A.D. 806]

    Tillers of the soil have few idle months;
    In the fifth month their toil is double-fold. 
    A south-wind visits the fields at night: 
    Suddenly the hill is covered with yellow corn. 
    Wives and daughters shoulder baskets of rice;
    Youths and boys carry the flasks of wine. 
    Following after they bring a wage of meat,
    To the strong reapers toiling on the southern hill,
    Whose feet are burned by the hot earth they tread,
    Whose backs are scorched by flames of the shining sky. 
    Tired they toil, caring nothing for the heat,
    Grudging the shortness of the long summer day. 
    A poor woman follows at the reapers’ side
    With an infant child carried close at her breast. 
    With her right hand she gleans the fallen grain;
    On her left arm a broken basket hangs. 
    And I to-day ... by virtue of what right
    Have I never once tended field or tree? 
    My government-pay is three hundred tons;
    At the year’s end I have still grain in hand. 
    Thinking of this, secretly I grew ashamed;
    And all day the thought lingered in my head.

[16] GOING ALONE TO SPEND A NIGHT AT THE HSIEN-YU TEMPLE

[A.D. 806]

    The crane from the shore standing at the top of the steps;
    The moon on the pool seen at the open door;
    Where these are, I made my lodging-place
    And for two nights could not turn away. 
    I am glad I chanced on a place so lonely and still
    With no companion to drag me early home. 
    Now that I have tasted the joy of being alone
    I will never again come with a friend at my side.

[17] PLANTING BAMBOOS

[A.D. 806]

    Unrewarded, my will to serve the State;
    At my closed door autumn grasses grow. 
    What could I do to ease a rustic heart? 
    I planted bamboos, more than a hundred shoots. 
    When I see their beauty, as they grow by the stream-side,
    I feel again as though I lived in the hills,
    And many a time on public holidays
    Round their railing I walk till night comes. 
    Do not say that their roots