| Multiple poems at a time |
Every plant is purple;
Every man is torn from his wife.
Alas for us employed on these expeditions!
How are we alone dealt with as if we were not men?
We are not rhinoceroses, we are not tigers,
To be kept in these desolate wilds.
Alas for us employed on these expeditions!
Morning and night we have no leisure.
The long-tailed foxes,
May keep among the dark grass.
And our box-carts,
Keep moving along the great roads.
【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).