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At the conjunction [of the sun and moon] in the tenth month, |
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On the first day of the moon, which was Xin-mao, |
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The sun was eclipsed, |
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A thing of very evil omen. |
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Then the moon became small, |
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And now the sun became small. |
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Henceforth the lower people, |
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Will be in a very deplorable case. |
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The sun and moon announce evil, |
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Not keeping to their proper paths. |
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All through the kingdom there is no [proper] government, |
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Because the good are not employed. |
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For the moon to be eclipsed, |
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Is but an ordinary matter. |
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Now that the sun has been eclipsed, -- |
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How bad it is! |
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Grandly flashes the lightning of the thunder; -- |
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There is a want of rest, a want of good. |
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The streams all bubble up and overflow. |
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The crags on the hill-tops fall down. |
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High banks become valleys; |
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Deep valleys become hills. |
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Alas for the men of this time! |
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How does [the king] not stop these things? |
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Huang-fu is the president; |
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Fan is the minister of instruction; |
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Jia-bo is the [chief] administrator; |
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Zhong-yun is the chief cook; |
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Zou is the recorder of the interior; |
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Jue is master of the house; |
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Yu is captain of the guards; |
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And the beautiful wife blazes, now in possession of her place. |
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This Huang-fu, |
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Will not acknowledge that he is acting out of season. |
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But why does he call us to action, |
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Without coming and consulting with us? |
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He has removed our walls and roofs, |
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And our fields are all either a marsh or a moor. |
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He says, ' I am not injuring you; |
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The laws require that thus it should be? ' |
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Huang-fu is very wise; |
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He has built a great city for himself in Xiang. |
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He chose three men as his ministers, |
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All of them indeed of great wealth. |
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He could not bring himself to leave a single minister, |
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Who might guard our king. |
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He [also] selected those who had chariots and horses, |
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To go and reside in Xiang.' |
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I have exerted myself to discharge my service, |
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And do not dare to make a report of my toils. |
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Without crime or offense of any kind, |
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Slanderous mouths are loud against me. |
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[But] the calamities of the lower people, |
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Do not come down from Heaven. |
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A multitide of [fair] words, and hatred behind the back, -- |
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The earnest, strong pursuit of this is from men. |
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Distant far is my village, |
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And my dissatisfaction is great. |
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In other quarters there is ease, |
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And I dwell here alone and sorrowful. |
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Every body is going into retirement, |
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And I alone dare not seek rest. |
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The ordinances of Heaven are inexplicable, |
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But I will not dare to follow my friends and leave my post. |