| Multiple poems at a time |
My four steeds advanced without stopping;
They panted and snorted, the white steeds black-maned.
Did I not have the wish to return?
But the king's business was not to be slackly performed;
And I had not leisure to kneel or to sit.
The Filial doves keep flying about,
Now soaring aloft, and now descending,
Collecting on the bushy oaks;
But the king's business was not to be slackly performed;
And I had not leisure to nourish my father.
The Filial doves keep flying about,
Now flying, now stopping,
Collecting on the bushy medlars;
But the king's business was not to be slackly performed;
And I had not leisure to nourish my mother.
I yoked my four white steeds, black-maned;
They hurried away with speed.
[But] did I not wish to return?
Therefore I make this song,
Announcing my wish to nourish my mother.
【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). Transliteration of Chinese names in the English translation were converted to