Who could bestow a hundred hu of pearls?
You send poem tubes, unceasing as whirls.
Transcendent lines like dawn clouds spread in flight,
Swift brush heroic works outrun their might.
For one word's peace, you'd age unknown to care,
A thousand pieces by dusk still to spare.
Autumn sky, swans soar above floating haze,
On level ground, steeds gallop through known ways.
Sharing cares, you rule a realm of miles,
With letters' art that in seven steps beguiles.
A lone sweep of a thousand troops astounds,
From all sides pressed, what fear in me resounds?
Strength to lift nine tripods, poised and neat,
A mind of ten thousand scrolls, dense and fleet.
A thousand words unstrained show sweep and range,
Not one dot added, free from flaw or change.
Harmonious as phoenix song in tune,
Force brushes clouds, like roc in angry noon.
Merchants should sell what you in verses weave,
Guardian spirits where'er they go, believe.
Your verse, a brocade glowing thousand feet,
Mine, coarse cloth barely one foot, incomplete.
Your verse, a rich capital's towering wall,
Mine, three poor huts, a humble, narrow thrall.
Passing North Sea, I lose myself in shame,
Seeing West's beauty, shy, I turn in blame.
Left grease but seeks to borrow neighbor's light,
Remnant moisture like dawn mist, faint and slight.
My lord, your noble will matches warm breeze,
The sage lord's grace, deep as clear dew that frees.
Your cause will hang like sun in sky's expanse,
Your fame already climbs where clouds advance.
May you return to serve by Jade Emperor's desk,
Heaven's scent with golden ladle's flame to bask.
May you westwards take Queen Mother's ring in hand,
Cloud-chariot straight to Jade Pool's fairy land.
Soon in court's hall to counsel and decree,
Not long滞留 in well and stars' degree.
As for my dust, unworthy of debate,
I bend and follow where the world sets fate.