The southeast bend of Min, a land of seas and streams,
Since time began, its world was made of bamboo groves.
Lord Wuzhu once served the Han, then Qin's rule he esteems,
Yet back he came, to barbarous custom still he clove.
No books in Weiyang or Changle halls were found,
No wonder huts of wood spread to the sky's far bound.
Few people dwelled, but beasts and birds did there abound,
Where clouds and mists entwined to make a sultry ground.
Before the fleet could cross the sea to reach this shore,
The Huainan king already feared the viper's spore.
Since Jugu moved his folk to riverside and plain,
Only the valleys saw the birds' long flight in vain.
Two reigns passed till the Sun clan held the land in sway,
Then first we heard of apricots round huts in May.
Still ignorant of Confucius' books, they stayed,
And only could make tigers guard the grain they made.
Strange cults and monstrous tales, not orthodox the lore,
Could but startle the deer that roamed the wild outdoors.
The tripartite division lasted several years,
No common man or scholar left a trace in tears.
In Kaiyuan, Tianbao, when Tang was at its height,
Through railings first we saw alfalfa in the light.
From Rinan, Shaoshi, famed scholars took their flight,
Two men from Silla were no common minds in sight.
The Min region by sea became a Confucian site,
With Lingzi and Sixu alone to keep the rite.
One cannot bear to read the Tang annals with grace,
For hills and streams endure a deep and shameful trace.
Heaven's will and earth's breath have their appointed hour,
Two or three hundred years bring gradual growth in power.
Shugu's great age began to blaze a trail of old,
Where moral truth and literary art took hold.
Cai Xiang's stern duty as censor he did bear,
Chen Lie's aura made dragons and tigers fear.
Jiefu seized virtue's cause and would not yield his ground,
Liaowong held fast to right, though poverty he found.
Heaven opened the Way to You, Yang, and Hu,
A northern breath like orchid's fragrance coming through.
Liaowong blamed Shen, but first knew Cheng's noble mind,
Zirong, hearing the wind, grew solemn and refined.
The sword-dragon transformed to Li Yanping, we see,
Where principle grew clear and humaneness ripened free.
Then Master Zhu of Kaoting came to birth,
Who propped up heaven, earth, and man, and spread their worth.
He set the moral bonds like the turtle bearing earth,
And lit the dark with wisdom's candle, a dragon's mirth.
Three Hus, three Cais, and five Lius joined the quest,
Xin'an and Jian'an like one family did attest.
Zhiqing, as son-in-law, was truly blessed,
Two gems of ice and jade, the world with light caressed.
Cailao saw much in the Four Books' profound behest,
Quanfu could read the Songs of Chu with skill possessed.
Zhengshu and Anqing heard the Way from the source,
Jingyuan, a bit later, learned by private course.
After his death, the Rites to Zhiqing did devolve,
The classic left unfinished, Yang Fu did resolve.
The constellation's lot now suddenly lies here,
Divine light and fair breath in close pursuit appear.
Each face by lamplit window shows a different grace,
Halls filled with gold and jade, pearls in ten thousand's space.
Thus were the Four Books spread throughout the world's embrace,
Westward and eastward worn, beyond the ninefold race.
Just as with Qi and Lu they might have matched their pace,
Lately they seem to have forgotten comb and face.
Worthy and learned posts by chance are left unmanned,
The short lamp by the wall, discarded out of hand.
We see each one a phoenix or a unicorn,
But slowly they are tamed to common fowl forlorn.
Habit through ages is the weightiest thing we face,
For which the sages often knit their brows in grace.
A thousand-fathom fall cannot be turned again,
The solid ice begins when earth's first line is plain.
Since ancient times, the Books have never led astray,
To know the classics is not just for official pay.
Wisdom and talent make ten thousand scenes of spring,
For family, state, and sons, a thousand blessings bring.
My words, verbose, in vain their effort try to fling,
I watch the sun rise clear from Fusang's bathing ring.