In the year Gengchen of Yuanfu, on the twelfth day of the first winter month.
I, Ren, served as an assistant in the Imperial Clan Court, toiling in the court's registry.
When the sage ruler first sought counsel, he listened to words until the sun slanted west.
The path of remonstrance had vacancies; seeking worthy men, he feared not to reach them in time.
Who would have thought, amidst careful selection, I'd chance to be first, though distant and lowly?
An edict suddenly bestowed the charge; hearing the command, I grew vigilant day and night.
Not that I feared not fitting in, but loving my lord, I worried about failing my duty.
Both anxious and glad, it was not for greed of rank or stipend.
All my life I've admired the ancients; perhaps my simple wish could now be fulfilled.
My spirit felt doubly cleansed and refreshed, stirred with fervor I ascended the literary stone.
The blue clouds parted to the ninth heaven; its pure light felt close enough to touch.
Each audience deepened our rapport; my heart and soul were laid utterly bare.
Reverently I received his earnest instructions, again promised loyalty and uprightness.
Glad for this encounter of a thousand years, I threw myself forward, heedless of personal cost.
My will aimed to restore the sovereign's authority; my strength first to repel the powerful clans.
Gnashing teeth in wrath at Qin Yong, intently hoping for figures like Kui and Ji.
Not valuing a thousand sheepskins, how could I yield to a single fox's armpit?
Diligently heeding the warning of treading on frost, I no longer worried about being too discreet.
Toiling through the night myself, what use were a hundred memorials?
Alas, this heart that loves the sovereign could not withstand the crowd's envy.
Cast into the Xiang for being alone awake, offending because I cherished the jade.
Still, relying on Heaven's vast virtue, after years I was banished once more.
My foes' malice unsatisfied, to the barren wilds I was surely cast out.
Across the sea, a journey of ten thousand miles, hardships and perils fully endured.
Sometimes encountering hurricanes, heaven and earth turned black as lacquer.
Snowy waves collapsed like crumbling mountains, roaring with flying thunderbolts.
My small boat like a well-sweep, tossed up and down, turned upside down.
Twin masts about to snap, ropes broken, seawater drenched the mats.
Whales and crocodiles drooling at the mouth, spouting amid gathered mist and rain.
Ten thousand monsters vied in chaos, stench aiding their gasping breath.
All my life I've relied on loyalty and faith; how dare I hope for a moment's safety?
By chance escaping the fish's belly, I gradually climbed onto islands.
The air stifling, about to flow, the earth's color scorched to crimson.
Plants steaming with mist and fog, at high noon the sun still unseen.
Desolate paths few travelers tread, with rustling runs of lizards and snakes.
Dwellers by the stream's edge, a hundred households across the steep cliffs.
Low huts all fenced with railings, foul and filthy like stables and pens.
Every family eats vegetable porridge, mixed with less than one-tenth rice.
Tiny fish and small shrimp are prized as delicacies in their cauldrons.
Bird-like tongues clamor in chatter, clad in plant-fiber clothes, dusty and veiled.
Complexions all sallow and swollen, most afflicted with miasmic diseases.
Their customs greedy and wanton, their ways clumsy and remote.
Hardly a world of men, fittingly this vast, silent desolation.
I was born a common man, my nature inherently true and straightforward.
Ever had a mind for rivers and seas, official service merely forced by circumstance.
One day by chance I met this fate; to be used or discarded, how dare I insist?
But I think on the divide between loyal and vile, for the state hangs weal and woe.
The Zhou widow did not grieve for her loom's thread; how can my resolve find its limit?
The lacquer woman leaned by the gate and sighed; my feelings are but stifled and pent.
Alas, those who scheme for themselves ought to ponder the hidden decrees of Heaven.