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Ah! Ah! ministers and officers, |
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Reverently attend to your public duties. |
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The king has given you perfect rules; -- |
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Consult about them and consider them. |
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Ah! Ah! ye assistants, |
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It is now the end of spring; |
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And what have ye to seek for? |
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[Only] how to manage the new fields and those of the third year. |
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How beautiful are the wheat and the barley, |
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Whose bright produce we shall receive! |
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The bright and glorious God. |
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Will in them give us a good year. |
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Order all our men, |
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To be provided with their spuds and hoes: -- |
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Anon we shall see the sickles at work. |
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A flock of egrets is flying, |
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About the marsh there in the west. |
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My visitors came, |
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With an [elegant] carriage like those birds. |
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There, [in their States], not disliked; |
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Here, [in Zhou], never tired of; -- |
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They are sure, day and night, |
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To penetrate their fame. |
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Abundant is the year, with much millet and much rice; |
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And we have our high granaries, |
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With myriads, and hundreds of thousands, and millions [of measures in them]; |
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For spirits and sweet spirits, |
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To present to our ancestors, male and female, |
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And to supply all out ceremonies. |
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The blessings sent down on us are of every kind. |
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There are the bird musicians; there are the blind musicians; |
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In the court of [the temple of] Zhou. |
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There are [the music frames] with their face-boards and posts, |
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The high toothed-edge [of the former], and the feathers stuck [in the latter]; |
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With the drums, large and small, suspended from them; |
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And the hand-drums and sounding-stones, the instrument to give the signal for commencing, and the stopper. |
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Oh! in the Qi and the Ju, |
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There are many fish in the warrens; -- |
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Sturgeons, large and snouted, |
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Zhan, yellow-jaws, mudfish, and carp: -- |
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For offerings, for sacrifice, |
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That our bright happiness may be increased. |
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They come full of harmony; |
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They are here, in all gravity; -- |
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The princess assisting, |
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While the Son of Heaven looks profound. |
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'While I present [this] noble bull, |
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And they assist me in setting forth the sacrifice, |
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O great and august Father, |
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Comfort me, your filial Son! |
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'With penetrating wisdom thou did'st play the man, |
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A sovereign with the gifts both of peace and war, |
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Giving rest even to great Heaven, |
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And ensuring prosperity to thy descendants. |
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'Thou comfortest me with the eyebrows of longevity; |
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Thou makest me great with manifold blessings. |
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I offer this sacrifice to my meritorious father, |
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And to my accomplished mother. ' |
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They appeared before their sovereign king, |
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To seek from him the rules [they were to observe]. |
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With their dargon-emblazoned banners, flying bright, |
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The bells on them and their front-boards tinkling, |
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And with the rings on the ends of the reins glittering, |
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Admirable was their majesty, and splendour. |
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He led them to appear before his father shrined on the left, |
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Where he discharged hisi filial duty, and presented his offerings; -- |
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That he might have granted to him long life, |
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And ever preserve [his dignity]. |
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Great and many are his blessings. |
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They are the brilliant and accomplished princes. |
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Who cheer him with his many sources of happiness, |
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Enabling him to perpetuate them in their brightness as pure blessing. |
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The noble visitor! The noble visitor! |
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Drawn like his ancestors by white horses! |
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The revered and dignified, |
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Polished members of his suite! |
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The noble guest will stop [but] a night or two! |
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The noble guest will stop [but] two nights or four! |
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Give him ropes, |
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To blind his horses. |
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I will convoy him [with a parting feast]; |
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I will comfort him in every possible way. |
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Adorned with such great dignity, |
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It is very natural that he should be blessed. |
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Oh! great wast thou, O king Wu, |
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Displaying the utmost strength in thy work. |
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Truly accomplished was king Wen, |
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Opening the path for his successors. |
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Thou did'st receive the inheritance from him; |
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Thou did'st vanquish Yin, and put a stop to its cruelties; -- |
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Effecting the firm establishment of thy merit. |