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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. |
Published
by The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, © Copyright 2003
by Anne Kinney and the University of Virginia