Passing My Estate at Shih-ning
Bobbed haired, irksome child, I longed to grow Upright,and find fame for it…
But then I found things of this world,
and they held me.
Only yesterday, or it seems so, I let such
honorable ambition go…
two dozen years, in fact, the then to now.
Blackened, reamed, worn as a knight would
never be, my nature sullied , I’d betrayed,
forgotten, even the bright broad land itself.
Worn, wasted, wearied I’m shamed now
by anything upright and firm…
But stupidity and sickness may yet
be my salvation: these have brought me here again
to the very bosom of Silence.
I am empowered by the emblem of a Magistrate
to rule “The Blue Sea”, but first I’ll play King
of my own old hills a while.
Hiking the high places, and the low,
crossing, tracing a winding stream to its source.
Here are cliffs, crags and peaks, and
ranks of ridges, ranges,
like rock islets and bits of sand bar in sea surge.
White clouds wrap dark boulders.
Green bamboo writhe in shamanesses’ dances by the stream.
I’ll rethatch the roof with the view
of the river’s twistings, and raise up
a tower for viewing the peaks.
Then I’ll wave farewell to my village folk:
“A three year term, then I’ll return…
plant me grave yard evergreens, and
coffin wood trees. These
are my last wishes.
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