THE SHE KING; OR, THE BOOK OF ANCIENT POETRY

172 THE BOOK OP POETRY. [PART I. XIII. I.] THE BOOK OF POETRY. 173
The Tsih p'o; allusive. A GENTLEMAN'S ADMIRATION OF AND
LONGING FOK A CERTAIN LADY.
1 There where its shores the marsh surround,
Rushes and lotus plants abound.
Their loveliness brings to my mind
The lovelier one that I would find.
In vain I try to ease the smart
Of wounded love that wrings my heart.
In waking thought and nightly dreams,
From every pore the water streams.
2 All round the marsh's shores are seen
Valerian flowers and rushes green.
But lovelier is that Beauty rare,
Handsome and large, and tall, and fair.
I wish and long to call her mine,
Doomed with the longing still to pine.
Nor day nor night e'er brings relief;
My inmost heart is full of grief.
3 Around the marsh, in rich display,
Grow rush and lotus flowers, all gay.
But not with her do they compare,
So tall and large, majestic, fair.
Both day and night, I nothing speed;
Still clings to me the aching need.
On side, on back, on face, 1 lie,
But vain each change of posture try.
BOOK XIII.
THE ODES OP KWEI.
KWEI was originally a small State, in the present Ch'ing Chow, depart
ment K'ae-fung, Ho-nan, or, as others think, in the district of Meih of
the same department. Its lords were Yuns, and claimed to be de cended
from Chuh-yung, a minister of the prae-historic emperor Chuen-heuh.
Before the period of the Ch'un-ts'ew, which begins about B.C. 720, it had
been extinguished by one of the earls of Ch'ing, the one, probably, whom
we have met with in Book vii. as duke1 Woo (B.C. 770—743), and had
become a portion of that State. Some of the critics think that the odes
of Ewei are really odes of Ch'ing, just as those of P'ei and Yung belonged
toWei.
I.
The Kami Tt'em ; narrative. SOME OFFICER OF KWEI LAMENTS OVER
THE FRIVOLOUS CHARACTER OF HIS BULER. FOND OF DISPLAYING HIS
ROBES, INSTEAD OP ATTENDING TO THE DUTIES OF GOVERNMENT.
1 In lamb's-fur robe you lounge about.
Hold court in fox-fur clad.
Such habits wake my anxious thought;—
My weary heart is sad.
When thus you slight each rule of dress,
Must not your rule be bad ?
2 Aimless you roam in lamb's-fur robe,
In fox-fur grace the hall.
Such habits wake my anxious thought,
And fill my heart with gall.
When thus you slight the laws of dress,
You'll heed no laws at all.
3 Your glossy lamb's-fur in the sun
Gleams as with ointment's sheen.
•"Tis this that wakes my anxious thought,
My heart's core pierces keen.
That thus you slight the laws of dress,
Is sorry sign I ween.