THE SHE KING; OR, THE BOOK OF ANCIENT POETRY

226 THE BOOK OF POETET. [PAET II.
10 This song by me, Kea-foo, the king's sad case relates.
Would he but change his heart, and nurse the myriad
States!
VIII.
The Ch'mg yueTi; narrative, allusive and metaphorical. A LAMENTA-
TigN OVER THE MISERIES OF THE KINGDOM, AND THE EUIN COMING
ON IT, ALL THEOUGH THE KING'S EMPLOYMENT OF WOETHLES9
CHEATURES, AND HIS INDULGENCE OF HIS FAVOUEITE PAOU SZE.
The mention of Paou Sze in stanza 8th determines the date of this
composition as belonging to the reign of king Yew. This lady Sze of
Paou was Yew's favourite concubine, raised in the end to be his wife.
For her sake he degraded his proper queen ; and his besotted attachment
to her was the cause of his own death, and of the greatest miseries to the
kingdom.
1 On the brow of the summer the hoar-frost abounds;
Sorrow's wound rankles deep in my heart,
And calumnies base, that the people perplex,
Daily waxing, inflict sharper smart.
All alone I am placed, none by me to stand;
Griefs intense more and more fill my breast.
Cares increase and disturb my sorrowful mind;
Both in body and soul I'm distressed.
2 0 father and mother who bore me, your son,
Was it only to suffer such woe ?
Why was I not born ere these evils arrived ?
Or why came they ere I am laid low ?
I hear their good words, which are but from the lip,
And their bad words have no deeper seat.
So shallow those men ! And the more that I grieve,
With their fiercer contempt do I meet.
3 With the pang of great misery wringing my heart,
Dwell I thus on this comfortless time ;
For the multitudes all will with me be brought
To base servitude, guiltless of crime.
And alas for us all in positions more high !
From what lord shall I now get support ?
No more can I tell than,—see yonder a crow !
Can I tell to whose house 'twill resort.
BE IV. VIII.] THE BOOK OF POETET. 227
4 Where the forest once grew, we look, and behold!
Faggots only and twiglets are left.
To Heaven 'midst their perils, the people all look,
And lo ! Heaven seems of reason bereft.
But is Heaven so dark ? When its purpose is fixed,
To its will opposition is vain.
And good is the Ruler supreme, the great God !
He hates none of the children of men.
5 'Tis only fools say that the mountains are low;—
'Gainst such words each high ridge would protest.
And as baseless the talk that is uttered by men,
But the king lets it fly unrepressed.
To ministers old and diviners of dreams
For advice he repairs, but they say,
" We are wise; but of crows which is female, which male,
To pronounce who can tell you. the way ? "
6 That the heavens are lofty who is there but knows ?
Yet beneath them I bow my head low,
And that thick is the earth who is there but feels ?
Yet with dainty steps on it I go.
For thus speaking and acting good reason I have,
In the conduct of many around,
Who originate all those calumnies base,
Like the cobra or eft fatal found.
7 Where the fields are rugged and stony, the grain
Yet luxuriantly rises and grows.
Heaven fights against me as if I were its match,
Moves and shakes me, and then overthrows.
As if I were hidden, they sought me at first,
At the court for a pattern to shine.
'Tis with hatred intense they scowl now on me,
And my services curtly decline.
8 With its sorrow my heart is deeply oppressed;
'Tis as if with tight string it were bound.
Now-a-days those who rule no kindness display;
Fierce oppression prevails all around.
Blazing flames that spread wide, and terror inspire,
May perhaps still be quenched at their height.
But our city august, where Chow holds its state,
. Through this vile Sze of Paou sinks to night.
15*