The Analects teach constant practice,
The Book of Shang praises timely diligence.
One word encompasses these two meanings,
Should not scholars reflect with reverence?
Again, renew your virtue daily,
Tang the Completer often warned himself so.
For three months not straying from benevolence,
Yanzi alone deeply grasped its flow.
Today perhaps you follow old routines,
Tomorrow cleanse and make yourself anew.
Last month perhaps you were intermittent,
This month again approach benevolence true.
Sages cherish every moment's light,
In this they are most cautious and keen.
If a scholar can exert his strength,
It's called 'racing with the hours' serene.
Man has one great season of his life,
Once gone, it never comes again.
At fifteen, enter the Great Learning,
To brighten virtue and renew the people then.
At twenty, it's the weak cap ceremony,
Once capped, the duties of a man begin.
Diligence or idleness for just a few years,
Determines wisdom or folly till life's end.
Missing this is losing the right time,
Youth does not come a second time, my friend.
Just as a farmer toils in the fields,
Spring plowing and summer weeding he attends.
If plowing and weeding miss their season,
No hope remains for autumn's harvest ends.
Parents above are both still living,
Brothers below, no mishap or strife.
Eating your fill with no mind applied,
Letting the bright day pass in vain life.
Youth and prime age, then old age arrives,
Suddenly one day you look back in dismay.
To others, speech becomes unclear,
Grasping a brush, you write the wrong way.
Dragon scales reflected in pigs and dogs,
A face and eyes that stir disgust and scorn.
Alas, and yet again alas,
Regret pursued when old and worn.
Before this point, there's still a chance,
Strive hard, you must awaken with the morn.