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Alas for me, who am [as] a little child, |
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On whom has devolved the unsettled State! |
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Solitary am I and full of distress. |
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Oh! my great Father, |
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All thy life long, thou wast filial. |
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Thou didst think of my great grandfather, |
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[Seeing him, as it were,] ascending and descending in the court. |
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I, the little child, |
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Day and night will be so reverent. |
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Oh! ye great kings, |
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As your successor, I will strive not to forget you. |
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I take counsel at the beginning of my [rule], |
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How I can follow [the example] of my shrined father. |
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Ah! far-reaching [were his plans], |
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And I am not yet able to carry them out. |
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However I endeavour to reach to them, |
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My continuation of them will still be all-deflected. |
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I am [but as] a little child, |
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Unequal to the many difficulties of the State. |
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In his room, [I will look for him] to go up and come down in the court, |
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To ascend and descend in the house. |
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Admirable art thou, O great Father, |
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[Condescend] to preserve and enlighten me. |
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Let me be reverent, let me be reverent, [in attending to my duties]; |
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[The way of] Heaven is evident, |
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And its appointment is not easily [preserved]. |
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Let me not say that It is high aloft above me. |
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It ascends and descends about our doings; |
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It daily inspects us wherever we are. |
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I am [but as] a little child, |
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Without intelligence to be reverently [attractive to my duties]; |
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But by daily progress and monthly advance, |
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I will learn to hold fast the gleams [of knowledge], till I arrive at bright intelligence. |
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Assist me to bear the burden [of my position], |
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And show me how to display a virtuous conduct. |
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I condemn myself [for the past], and will be on my guard against future calamity. |
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I will have nothing to do with a wasp, |
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To seek for myself its painful sting. |
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At first, indeed, the thing seemed but a wren, |
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But it took wing and became a [large] bird. |
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I am unequal to the many difficulties of the kingdom; |
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And I am placed in the midst of bitter experiences. |
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They clear away the grass and the bushes; |
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And the ground is laid open by their ploughs. |
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In thousands of pairs they remove the roots, |
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Some in the low wet lands, some along the dykes. |
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There are the master and his eldest son; |
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His younger sons, and all their children; |
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Their strong helpers, and their hired servants. |
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How the noise of their eating the viands brought to them resounds! |
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[The husbands] think lovingly of their wives; |
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[The wives] keep close to their husbands. |
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[Then] with their sharp plough-shares, |
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They set to work on the south-lying acres. |
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They sow their different kinds of grain, |
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Each seed containing in it a germ of life. |
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In unbroken lines rises the blade, |
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And well-nourished the stalks grow long. |
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Luxuriant looks the young grain, |
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And the weeders go among it in multitudes. |
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Then come the reapers in crowds, |
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And the grain is piled up the fields, |
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Myriads, and hundreds of thousands, and millions [of stacks]; |
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For spirits and for sweet spirits, |
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To offer to our ancestors, male and female, |
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And to provide for all ceremonies. |
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Fragrant is their aroma, |
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Enhancing the glory of the State. |
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Like pepper is their smell, |
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To give comfort to the aged. |
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It is not here only that there is this [abundance]; |
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It is not now only that there is such a time: -- |
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From of old it has been thus. |
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Very sharp are the excellent shares, |
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With which they set to work on the south-lying acres. |
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They sow their different kinds of grain, |
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Each seed containing a germ of life. |
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There are those who come to see them, |
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With their baskets round and square, |
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Containing the provision of millet. |
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With their light splint hats on their heads, |
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They ply their hoes on the ground, |
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Clearing away the smart-weed on the dry land and wet. |
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These weeds being decayed, |
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The millets grow luxuriantly. |
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They fall rustling before the reapers. |
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And [the sheaves] are set up solidly, |
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High as a wall, |
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United together like the teeth of a comb; |
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And the hundred houses are opened [to receive the grain]. |
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Those hundred houses being full, |
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The wives and children have a feeling of repose. |
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[Now] we kill this black-muzzled tawny bull, |
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With his crooked horns, |
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To imitate and hand down, |
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To land down [the observances of] our ancestors. |
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In his silken robes, clear and bright, |
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With his cap on his head, looking so respectful, |
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From the hall he goes to the foot of the stairs, |
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And from the sheep to the oxen. |
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[He inspects] the tripods, large and small. |
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The good spirits are mild; |
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There is no noise, no insolence: -- |
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An auspice, [all this], of great longevity. |
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Oh! powerful was the king's army; |
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But he nursed it in obedience to circumstances while the time was yet dark. |
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When the time was clearly bright, |
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He thereupon donned his grand armour. |
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We have been favoured to receive, |
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What the martial king accomplished. |
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To deal aright with what we have inherited, |
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We have to be sincere imitators of thy course, [O king]. |
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There is peace throughout our myriad regions; |
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There has been a succession of plentiful years: -- |
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Heaven does not weary in its favour. |
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The martial king Wu, |
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Maintained [the confidence of] his officers, |
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And employed them all over the kingdom, |
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So securing the establishment of his Family. |
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Oh! glorious was he in the sight of Heaven, |
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Which kinged him in the room [of Shang]. |