At fifteen or sixteen, I began to roam exam halls with verse.
Hearing your high repute, already ranked with Ban and Sima's peers.
In youth you gained degrees, with plans for statecraft to disperse.
Alone in lofty stance, unmatched in world, no fame to coerce.
Midway met many turns, a sick steed circling sands adverse.
Rising as Luzhou's guard, your governance proved most diverse.
From Eastern Sea recalled, yet Yingchuan begged you to traverse.
Noble the hero's heart, refusing childish shame to nurse.
Returning robes to woods, springs and rocks sweet, serene and terse.
A slight regret remains: imperial grace not fully reimbursed.
Looking back at fame's field, mere fly-head specks in universe.
See those robed officials, who for the world's woes immerse?
Human hearts favor soft familiarity, like freshly steamed wheat's verse.
The obsequious reach high posts, the upright, strange, miss titles' purse.
A word reversed like hand, plains sprout deep trenches to traverse.
World's affairs wound Jia Yi, straight paths endanger Tian Chou's curse.
When can we shift with tides, return to fish Canglang's disperse?
Though fame hard to foresee, years and months easily converse.
Clear breeze from sleeves flows out, becoming people's shelter diverse.
Let not "Liangfu's Lament" become mere "Gaotang's Ode" perverse.