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Luxuriantly is that young mulberry tree, |
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And beneath it wide is the shade; |
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But they will pluck its leaves till it is quite destroyed. |
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The distress inflicted on these [multitudes of the ] people, |
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Is an unceasing sorrow to my heart; -- |
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My commiseration fills [my breast]. |
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O thou bright and great Heaven, |
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Shouldest thou not have compassion on us? |
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The four steeds [gallop about], eager and strong; |
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The tortoise-and-serpent and the falcon banners fly about. |
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Disorder grows, and no peace can be secured. |
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Every State is being ruined; |
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There are no black heads among the people; |
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All are reduced to ashes, [as it were], by calamity. |
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Oh! alas! |
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The doom of the kingdom hurries on. |
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There is nothing to arrest the doom of the kingdom; |
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Heaven does not nourish us. |
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There is no place in which to stop securely; |
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There is no place to which to go. |
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Superior men are the bonds [of the social state], |
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Allowing no love of strife in their hearts. |
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Who reared the steps of the dissatisfaction, |
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Which has reached the present distress? |
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The grief of my heart is extreme, |
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And I dwell on [the condition of] our territory. |
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I was born at an unhappy time, |
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To meet with the severe anger of Heaven. |
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From the west to the east, |
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There is no quiet place of abiding. |
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Many are the distresses I meet with; |
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Very urgent is the trouble on our borders. |
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You have your counsels; you employ caution; |
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But the disorder grows and dismemberments ensue. |
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I tell you the subjects for anxiety; |
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I instruct you how to distinguish the orders of men. |
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Who can hold anything hot? |
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Must he not dip it [first] in water? |
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How can you [by your method] bring a good state of things about? |
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You [and your advisers] will sink together in ruin. |
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[The state of things] is like going in the teeth of the wind, |
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Which makes one quite breathless. |
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Some have a mind to go forward, |
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But they are made to think it is of no use to do so. |
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They attach themselves to husbandry, |
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And labour like the people instead of eating [the bread of office]. |
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Their sowing and reaping are precious to them; |
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They love this substitute for [official] emolument. |
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Heaven is sending down death and disorder, |
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And has put an end to our king. |
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It is sending down those devourers of the grain, |
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So that the husbandry is all in evil case. |
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All is in peril and going to ruin; |
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I have no strength [to do anything], |
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And think of [the Power in] the azure vault. |
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Here is a good and righteous ruler, |
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Who is looked up to by the people and by all; -- |
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He keeps his heart, and his plans are formed on mature deliberation, |
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Searching carefully for helpers. |
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There is one who has no such character, |
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But reckons only to his own views to be good; -- |
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He holds only to his own thoughts, |
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And causes the people to be distracted. |
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Look into the middle of that forest, |
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At the herds of deer roaming together. |
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[But here] friends are insincere, |
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And do not help one another in what is good. |
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People have the saying, |
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'To go forwards or backwards is alike impracticable. ' |
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Here is a wise man; -- |
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His views and words reach to a hundred Li, |
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There is a stupid man; -- |
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He on the contrary rejoices in his madness. |
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It is not that I could not speak [all this]; -- |
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How is it I was withheld by my fear? |
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Here is a good man, |
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But he is not sought out nor employed. |
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There is a hard-hearted man, |
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And he is thought of and promoted once and again. |
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The people [in consequence] desire disorder, |
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And find emjoyment in bitter, poisonous ways. |
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Great winds have a path; -- |
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They come from the large empty valleys. |
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Here is a good man, |
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Whose doings will be good. |
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There is a man unobservant of the right, |
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Whose goings will be according to his inward filthiness. |
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Great winds have a path; -- |
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The covetous men try to subvert their peers. |
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I would speak, if he would hear my words, |
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But I can [only] croon them over as if I were drunk. |
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He will not employ the good, |
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And on the contrary causes me [such] distress. |
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Ah! my friends, |
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Is it in ignorance that I make [this ode]? |
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[But it may happen] as in the case of a bird on the wing, |
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Which sometimes is hit and caught. |
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I go to do you good, |
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But you become the more incensed against me. |
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The unlimited disorder of the people, |
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Is owing to those hypocrites, skilful to prevaricate. |
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They work out the injury of the people, |
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As if their efforts were not equal to it. |
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The depravity of the people, |
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Is brought about by their strenuous endeavours. |
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That the people are unsettled, |
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Is owing to the robbers that prey on them. |
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Hypocritical, they say ' These men will not do; ' |
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But when their backs are turned, they show their skill in reviling [the good]. |
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Although you say, ' We did not do this, ' |
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I have made this song about you. |