The oldest collection of Chinese poetry, more than three hundred songs, odes and hymns. Tr. Legge (en) and Granet (fr, incomplete).
Minister of war,
We are the claws and teeth of the king.
Why have you rolled us into this sorrow,
So that we have no abiding place ?
Minister of war,
We are the taloned soldiers of the king.
Why have you rolled us into this sorrow,
So that there is no end [of our toils] ?
Minister of war,
You have indeed acted without discrimination.
Why have you rolled us into this sorrow,
So that our mothers have to do all the labour of cooking ?
Legge 185
Let the brilliant white colt,
Feed on the young growth of my vegetable garden.
Tether it by the foot, tie it by the collar,
To prolong this morning.
So may its owner of whom I think,
Spend his time here at his ease !
Let the brilliant white colt,
Feed on the bean sprouts of my vegetable garden.
Tether it by the foot, tie it by the collar,
To prolong this evening.
So may its owner of whom I think,
Be here, an admired quest !
If [you with] the brilliant white colt,
Would brightly come to me,
You should be a duke, you should be a marquis,
Enjoying yourself without end.
Be on your guard against idly wandering ;
Deal vigorously with your thoughts of retirement.
The brilliant white colt,
Is there in that empty valley,
With a bundle of fresh grass.
Its owner is like a gem.
Do not make the news of you rare as gold and gems, –
Indulging your purpose to abandon me.
Legge 186
Yellow bird, yellow bird,
Do not settle on the broussonetias,
Do not eat my paddy.
The people of this country,
Are not willing to treat me well.
I will return, I will go back,
Back to my country and kin.
Yellow bird, yellow bird,
Do not settle on the mulberry trees,
Do not eat my maize.
The people of this country,
Will not let me come to an understanding with them.
I will return, I will go back,
Back to my brethren.
Yellow bird, yellow bird,
Do not settle on the oaks,
Do not eat my grand millet.
The people of this country,
I cannot dwell with.
I will return, I will go back,
Back to my uncles.
Legge 187
I travelled through the country,
Where the Fetid tree grew luxuriant.
Because of our affinity by marriage,
I went to reside with you.
But you do not entertain me ;
And I go back to my country and clan.
I travelled through the country,
Gathering the sheep's-foot.
Because of our affinity by marriage,
I came to lodge with you.
But you do not entertain me ;
And I will return, I will go back.
I travelled through the country,
Gathering the pokeweed.
You do not think of our old affinity,
And seek to please your new relative.
If indeed you are not influenced by her riches,
You still are so by the difference [between the new and the old].
Legge 188
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By the graceful sweep of these banks,
With the southern hill, so calm in the distance,
[Has the palace arisen], firm as the roots of a clump of bamboos,
[With its roof] like the luxuriant head of a pine tree.
May the brothers [here],
Be loving among themselves,
And have no schemings against one another !
Having entered into the inheritance of his ancestors,
He has built his chambers, five thousand cubits of walls,
With their doors to the west and to the south.
Here will he reside ; here will he sit ;
Here will he laugh ; here will he talk.
They bound the frames for the earth, exactly over one another ;
Tuo-tuo went on the pounding ; –
Impervious [the walls] to wind and rain,
Offering no cranny to bird or rat.
A grand dwelling is it for our noble lord.
Like a man on tip-toe, in reverent expectation ;
Like an arrow, flying rapidly ;
Like a bird which has changed its feathers ;
Like a pheasant on flying wings ;
Is the [hall] which our noble lord will ascend.
Level and smooth is the court-yard,
And lofty are the pillars around it.
Pleasant is the exposure of the chamber to the light,
And deep and wide are its recesses ; –
Here will our noble lord repose.
On the rush-mat below, and that of fine bamboos above it,
Here may he repose in slumber !
May he sleep and awake,
[Saying] ' Divine for me my dreams.
What dreams are lucky ?
They have been of bears and grisly bears ;
They have been of cobras and [other] serpents. '
The chief diviner will divine them.
The bears and grisly bears,
Are the auspicious intimations of sons.
The cobras and [other] serpents,
Are the auspicious intimations of daughters.
Sons shall be born to him : –
They will be put to sleep on couches ;
They will be clothed in robes ;
They will have sceptres to play with ;
Their cry will be loud.
They will be [hereafter] resplendent with red knee-covers,
The [future] king, the princes of the land.
Daughters shall be born to him : –
They will be put to sleep on the ground ;
They will be clothed with wrappers ;
They will have tiles to play with.
It will be theirs neither to do wrong nor to do good.
Only about the spirits and the food will they have to think,
And to cause no sorrow to their parents.
Legge 189
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Who can say that you have no sheep ?
There are three hundred in [each] herd.
Who says that you have no cattle ?
There are ninety, which are black-lipped.
Your sheep come,
Horned, but all agreeing.
Your cattle come,
Flapping their ears.
Some are descending among the mounds ;
Some are drinking at the pools ;
Some are lying down, some are moving about.
Your herdsmen come,
Bearing their rain-coats and bamboo-hats,
Or carrying on their backs their provisions.
In thirties are the creatures arranged according to their colours ;
For your victims there is abundant provision.
Your herdsmen come,
With their large faggots, and smaller branches,
And with their prey of birds and beasts.
Your sheep come,
Vigorous and strong,
None injured, no infection in the herd.
At the wave of the [herdsman's] arm,
All come, all go up [into the fold].
Your herdsmen shall dream, –
Of multitudes and then of fishes ;
Of the tortoise-and serpent ; and then of the falcon banners.
The chief diviner will divine the dreams,
How the multitudes dissolving into fishes,
Betoken plentiful years ;
How the tortoise-and-serpent dissolving into falcon banners,
Betoken the increasing population of the kingdom.
Legge 190
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Lofty is that southern hill,
With its masses of rocks !
Awe-inspiring are you, O [Grand] master Yin,
And the people all look to you !
A fire burns in their grieving hearts ;
They do not dare to speak of you even in jest.
The kingdom is verging to extinction ; –
How is it that you do not consider the state of things ?
Lofty is that southern hill,
And vigorously grows the vegetation on it !
Awe-inspiring are you, O [Grand] master Yin,
But how is it that you are so unjust ?
Heaven is continually redoubling its afflictions ;
Deaths and disorder increase and multiply ;
No words of satisfaction come from the people ;
And yet you do not correct nor bemoan yourself !
The Grand-master Yin,
Is the foundation of our Zhou,
And the balance of the State is in his hands.
He should be keeping together the four quarters [of the kingdom] ;
He should be aiding the Son of Heaven,
So as to preserve the people from going astray.
O unpitying great Heaven,
It is not right he should reduce us all to such misery !
Doing nothing himself personally,
The people have no confidence in him,
By making no inquiry, and no trial of their services,
He should not deal deceitfully with superior men.
By dismissing them on the requirement of justice,
Mean men would not be endangering [the common weal] ;
And his mean relatives,
Would not be in offices of importance.
Great Heaven, unjust,
Is sending down these exhausting disorders.
Great Heaven, unkind,
Is sending down these great miseries.
Let superior men come [into office],
And that would bring rest to the people's hearts.
Let superior men do justly,
And the animosities and angers would disappear.
O unpitying, great Heaven,
There is no end to the disorder !
With every month it continues to grow,
So that the people have no repose.
I am as if intoxicated with the grief of my heart.
Who holds the ordering of the kingdom ?
Not attending himself to the government,
The issue is toil and pain to the people.
I yoke my four steeds,
My four steeds, long-necked.
I look to the four quarters [of the kingdom] ;
Distress is everywhere ; there is nowhere I can drive to.
Now your evil is rampant,
And I see your spears.
Again you are pacified and friendly,
As if you were pledging one another.
From great Heaven is the injustice,
And our king has no repose.
[Yet] he will not correct his heart,
And goes on to resent endeavours to rectify him.
I, Jia-fu, have made this song,
To lay bare the king's disorders.
If you would but change your heart,
And nourish the myriad States ! –
Legge 191
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In the first month [of summer] the hoar-frost abounds,
And my heart is wounded with sorrow.
The false calumnies of the people,
Also wax greater and greater.
I think how I stand alone,
And the sorrow of my heart grows intense.
Alas ! through my anxious cares,
My hidden sorrow goes on to make me ill.
Ye parents who gave me birth !
Was it to make me suffer this pain ?
[Why was this time] not before me ?
Or [why was it] not after me ?
Their good words are [only] from the mouth ;
Their bad words are [only] from the mouth.
The sorrow of my heart becomes greater,
And because of this I incur contempt.
My sorrow heart is very sad ;
I think of my unfortunate position.
The innocent people,
Will all be reduced to servitude with me.
Alas for me !
From whom shall I henceforth get support ?
I see a crow which will rest,
– But on whose house ?
Look into the middle of the forest ;
There are [only] large faggots and small branches in it.
The people now amidst their perils,
Look to Heaven, all dark.
But let its determination be fixed,
And there is none whom it will not overcome.
There is the great God, –
Does He hate any one ?
If one say of a hill that it is low,
There are its ridges, and its large masses.
The false calumnies of the people, –
How is it that you do not repress them ?
You call those experienced ancients ;
You consult the diviner of dreams :
They all say, ' We are wise ;
But who can distinguish the male and female crow ? '
We say of the heavens that they are high,
But I dare not but stoop under them.
We say of the earth that it is thick,
But I dare not but walk daintily on it.
For my freely expressing myself thus,
I have reason, I have good ground.
Alas for the men of this time !
Why are they such cobras and efts ?
Look at that rugged and stony field ; –
Luxuriantly rises in it the springing grain !
[But] Heaven moves and shakes me,
As if it could not overcome me.
They sought me [at first] to be a pattern [to them],
[Eagerly] as if they could not get me.
[Now] they regard me with great animosity,
And will not use my strength.
My heart with its sorrow,
Feels as if it were tied and bound by something.
This government of the present time, –
How oppressive it is !
The flames, when they are blazing,
May still perhaps be extinguished ;
But the majestic honoured capital of Zhou,
Is being destroyed by Si of Bao.
This issue is ever my anxious thought.
Moreover, you have the embarrassment of soaking rain.
Your carriage is loaded,
And if you throw away your wheel-aids,
Your load will be overturned,
And you will be crying, ' O sir, help me ! '
If you do throw away your wheel-aids,
Which give asistance to the spokes ;
And if you constantly look after the driver,
You will not overturn your load,
And in the end will get over the most difficult places ;
But you have not thought of this.
The fish are in the pond,
But they cannot enjoy themselves.
Although they dive to the bottom,
They are very clearly seen.
My sorrow heart is deeply pained,
When I think of the oppression in the kingdom.
They have their good spirits,
And their fine viands along with them.
They assemble their neighbours,
And their relatives are full of their praise.
When I think of my solitariness,
My sorrowing heart is full of distress.
Mean-like, those have their houses ;
Abjects, they will have their emoluments.
But the people now have no maintenance.
For Heaven is pounding them with its calamities,
The rich may get through,
But alas for the helpless and solitary !
Legge 192
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At the conjunction [of the sun and moon] in the tenth month,
On the first day of the moon, which was Xin-mao,
The sun was eclipsed,
A thing of very evil omen.
Then the moon became small,
And now the sun became small.
Henceforth the lower people,
Will be in a very deplorable case.
The sun and moon announce evil,
Not keeping to their proper paths.
All through the kingdom there is no [proper] government,
Because the good are not employed.
For the moon to be eclipsed,
Is but an ordinary matter.
Now that the sun has been eclipsed, –
How bad it is !
Grandly flashes the lightning of the thunder ; –
There is a want of rest, a want of good.
The streams all bubble up and overflow.
The crags on the hill-tops fall down.
High banks become valleys ;
Deep valleys become hills.
Alas for the men of this time !
How does [the king] not stop these things ?
Huang-fu is the president ;
Fan is the minister of instruction ;
Jia-bo is the [chief] administrator ;
Zhong-yun is the chief cook ;
Zou is the recorder of the interior ;
Jue is master of the house ;
Yu is captain of the guards ;
And the beautiful wife blazes, now in possession of her place.
This Huang-fu,
Will not acknowledge that he is acting out of season.
But why does he call us to action,
Without coming and consulting with us ?
He has removed our walls and roofs,
And our fields are all either a marsh or a moor.
He says, ' I am not injuring you ;
The laws require that thus it should be ? '
Huang-fu is very wise ;
He has built a great city for himself in Xiang.
He chose three men as his ministers,
All of them indeed of great wealth.
He could not bring himself to leave a single minister,
Who might guard our king.
He [also] selected those who had chariots and horses,
To go and reside in Xiang.'
I have exerted myself to discharge my service,
And do not dare to make a report of my toils.
Without crime or offense of any kind,
Slanderous mouths are loud against me.
[But] the calamities of the lower people,
Do not come down from Heaven.
A multitide of [fair] words, and hatred behind the back, –
The earnest, strong pursuit of this is from men.
Distant far is my village,
And my dissatisfaction is great.
In other quarters there is ease,
And I dwell here alone and sorrowful.
Every body is going into retirement,
And I alone dare not seek rest.
The ordinances of Heaven are inexplicable,
But I will not dare to follow my friends and leave my post.
Legge 193
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Great and wide Heaven,
How is it you have contracted your kindness,
Sending down death and famine,
Destroying all through the kingdom ?
Compassionate Heaven, arrayed in terrors,
How is it you exercise no forethought, no care ?
Let alone the criminals : –
They have suffered for their offences ;
But those who have no crime,
Are indiscriminately involved in ruin.
The honoured House of Zhou is [nearly] extinguished,
And there is no means of stopping or settling [the troubles].
The Heads of the officers have left their places,
And no one knows my toil.
The three high ministers, and [other] great officers,
Are unwilling [to attend to their duties] early and late.
The lords of the various States,
Are unwilling [to appear at court] morning and evening.
If indeed he would turn to good, –
But on the contrary he proceeds to [greater] evil.
How is it, O great Heaven,
That he will not hearken to the justest words ?
He is like a man going [astray],
[Who knows] not where he will proceed to.
All ye officers,
Let each of you reverently attend to his duties.
How do ye not stand in awe of one another ?
Ye do not stand in awe of Heaven.
War has done its work, but he withdraws not [from evil] ;
Famine has done its work, but he goes not on [to good] ;
So that I, a [mere] groom of the chambers,
Am full of grief and in pain daily.
All ye officers,
Ye are unwilling to declare [the truth to him].
When you hear a question, you [simply] answer it,
And when slander touches you, you withdraw.
Alas that [right words] cannot be spoken,
Which come not from the tongue [only] !
The speakers of them are sure to suffer.
Well is it for the words that can be spoken !
The artful speech flows like a stream,
And the speakers dwell at ease in prosperity.
It may be said about taking office,
That it is full of hazard and peril.
By [advice] that he says cannot be followed,
You offend against the Son of Heaven.
By advice that he says will be followed,
You excite the resentment of your friends.
I say to you, ' Remove to the royal capital, '
And ye say that you have not got houses there.
Painful are my inmost thoughts, and I weep blood ; –
Every word I speak makes me hated ;
But when you formerly left to reside elsewhere,
Who was it that made houses for you ?
Legge 194
The Book of Odes – Shi Jing II. 4. – Chinese on/off – Français/English
Alias Shijing, Shi Jing, Book of Odes, Book of Songs, Classic of Odes, Classic of
Poetry, Livre des Odes, Canon des Poèmes.
The Book of Odes, The Analects, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Three-characters book, The Book of Changes, The Way and its Power, 300 Tang Poems, The Art of War, Thirty-Six Strategies
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