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A simple-looking lad you were, |
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Carrying cloth to exchange it for silk. |
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[But] you came not so to purchase silk; -- |
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You came to make proposals to me. |
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I convoyed you through the Qi, |
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As far as Dunqiu. |
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' It is not I, ' [I said], ' who would protract the time; |
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But you have had no good go-between. |
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I pray you be not angry, |
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And let autumn be the time. ' |
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I ascended that ruinous wall, |
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To look towards Fuguan; |
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And when I saw [you] not [coming from] it; |
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My tears flowed in streams. |
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When I did see [you coming from] Fuquan, |
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I laughed and I spoke. |
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You had consulted, [you said], the tortoise-shell and the reeds, |
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And there was nothing unfavourable in their response. |
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' Then come, ' [I said], ' with your carriage, |
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And I will remove with my goods. |
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Before the mulberry tree has shed its leaves, |
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How rich and glossy are they! |
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Ah! thou dove, |
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Eat not its fruit [to excess]. |
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Ah! thou young lady, |
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Seek no licentious pleasure with a gentleman. |
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When a gentleman indulges in such pleasure, |
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Something may still be said for him; |
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When a lady does so, |
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Nothing can be said for her. |
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When the mulberry tree sheds its leaves, |
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They fall yellow on the ground. |
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Since I went with you, |
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Three years have I eaten of your poverty; |
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And [now] the full waters of the Qi, |
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Wet the curtains of my carriage. |
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There has been no difference in me, |
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But you have been double in your ways. |
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It is you, Sir, who transgress the right, |
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Thus changeable in your conduct. |
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For three years I was your wife, |
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And thought nothing of my toil in your house. |
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I rose early and went to sleep late, |
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Not intermitting my labours for a morning. |
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Thus [on my part] our contract was fulfilled, |
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But you have behaved thus cruelly. |
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My brothers will not know [all this], |
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And will only laugh at me. |
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Silently I think of it, |
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And bemoan myself. |
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I was to grow old with you; -- |
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Old, you give me cause for sad repining. |
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The Qi has its banks, |
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And the marsh has its shores. |
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In the pleasant time of my girlhood, with my hair simply gathered in a knot, |
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Harmoniously we talked and laughed. |
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Clearly were we sworn to good faith, |
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And I did not think the engagement would be broken. |
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That it would be broken I did not think, |
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And now it must be all over! |