Part 3 (1/2)

825 Governor of Soochow.

826 Retires owing to illness.

827 Returns to Ch'ang-an.

829 Settles permanently at Lo-yang.

831 Governor of Ho-nan, the province of which Lo-yang was capital.

833 Retires owing to illness.

839 Has paralytic stroke in tenth month.

846 Dies in the eighth month.

[11] AFTER Pa.s.sING THE EXAMINATION

[_A.D. 800_]

For ten years I never left my books; I went up ... and won unmerited praise.

My high place I do not much prize; The joy of my parents will first make me proud.

Fellow students, six or seven men, See me off as I leave the City gate.

My covered couch is ready to drive away; Flutes and strings blend their parting tune.

Hopes achieved dull the pains of parting; Fumes of wine shorten the long road....

Shod with wings is the horse of him who rides On a Spring day the road that leads to home.

[12] ESCORTING CANDIDATES TO THE EXAMINATION HALL

[_A.D. 805_]

At dawn I rode to escort the Doctors of Art; In the eastern quarter the sky was still grey.

I said to myself, ”You have started far too soon,”

But horses and coaches already thronged the road.

High and low the riders' torches bobbed; m.u.f.fled or loud, the watchman's drum beat.

Riders, when I see you p.r.i.c.k To your early levee, pity fills my heart.

When the sun rises and the hot dust flies And the creatures of earth resume their great strife, You, with your striving, what shall you each seek?

Profit and fame, for that is all your care.

But I, you courtiers, rise from my bed at noon And live idly in the city of Ch'ang-an.

Spring is deep and my term of office spent; Day by day my thoughts go back to the hills.

[13] IN EARLY SUMMER LODGING IN A TEMPLE TO ENJOY THE MOONLIGHT

[_A.D. 805_]

In early summer, with two or three more That were seeking fame in the city of Ch'ang-an, Whose low employ gave them less business Than ever they had since first they left their homes,-- With these I wandered deep into the shrine of Tao, For the joy we sought was promised in this place.