| Multiple poems at a time |
Long and large grows the e; --
It is not the e but the wei.
Alas! alas! my parents,
With what toil and suffering ye gave me birth!
When the pitcher is exhausted,
It is the shame of the jar.
Than to live an orphan,
It would be better to have been long dead.
Fatherless, who is there to rely on?
Motherless, who is there to depend on?
When I go abroad, I carry my grief with me;
When I come home, I have no one to go to.
O my father, who begat me!
O my mother, who nourished me!
Ye indulged me, ye fed me,
Ye held me up, ye supported me,
Ye looked after me, ye never left me,
Out and in ye bore me in your arms.
If I would return your kindness,
It is like great Heaven, illimitable,
Cold and bleak is the Southern hill;
The rushing wind is very fierce.
People all are happy; --
Why am I alone thus miserable?
The Southern hill is very steep;
The rushing wind is blustering.
People all are happy; --
I alone have been unable to finish [my duty].
【Source】 The English translation text was taken from The Chinese Classics, vol. 4 by James Legge (1898) and checked against a reprinted edition by Wen Zhi Zhe chu pan she (Taiwan, 1971).