Chinese and Arabian Literature - E. Wilson - The Search For Mecca

192
THE SHI-KING
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Kind and impartial, nature's laws
No odious difference make.
But providence appears unkind
Events are often hard.
This man, to principle untrue,
Denies me his regard.
Northward the pools their waters send,
To flood each paddy field
So get the fields the sap they need,
Their store of rice to yield.
But that great man no deed of grace
Deigns to bestow on me.
My songs are sighs. At thought of him
My heart aches wearily.
The mulberry branches they collect,
And use their food to cook
But I must use a furnace small,
That pot nor pan will brook.
So me that great man badly treats.
Nor uses as his wife.
Degrades me from my proper place.
And fills with grief my life.
The bells and drums inside the court
Men stand without and hear;
So should the feelings in my breast,
To him distinct appear.
All-sorrowful, I think of him,
Longing to move his love
But he vouchsafes no kind response;
His thoughts far from me rove.
The marabow stands on the dam.
And to repletion feeds
The crane deep in the forest cries,
Nor finds the food it needs.
So in my room the concubine
By the great man is placed ;
While I with cruel banishment
Am cast out and disgraced.
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