My dwelling as a guest, this hall I own,
Before it rivers flow, behind hills stand alone.
Below, cliffs drop a thousand fathoms sheer,
Where dark waves churn and leap in wild career.
The treetops wear a crown of verdant green,
And slanting rocks with random scars are seen.
The cuckoo cries by day and night its strain,
The warrior's spirit shrinks in grief and pain.
The gorge stretches four thousand miles in length,
Where hundreds of streams merge their gathered strength.
Men and tigers share this land, half and half,
Harming each other, yet both survive the strife.
Shu's hemp has long not come to fill our need,
While Wu's salt blocks the gate of Jing, indeed.
The southwest lost its great general in command,
Merchants and travelers flee like stars, unmanned.
Now yet another marshal is sent down,
I hear his moving carriage through the town.
Boatmen await a chance to cross the tide,
Relying on the leader's rule with pride.
I stand here in the middle of the road,
Where livelihood and fate cannot be showed.
Lying in sorrow, my sick foot is lame,
I slowly walk to view the garden's frame.
Short plots are edged with jade-like grass so fair,
In longing gaze, I miss the prince with care.
The phoenix followed its king and flew away,
At dusk, sparrows on fences chirp and play.
Seeing these scenes, I yearn for homeland dear,
Ten years apart from that deserted frontier.
At sunset, few birds wing their way back home,
The northern woods in empty darkness roam.
How I wish to cover all the eight seas,
To cleanse the world for you with gentle ease.
Ji and Xie would find their task an easy one,
The Dog Tribes could be swallowed and undone.
A scholar grows old with no achievement won,
A subject worries over troubles, every one.
In my box lies an old brush, worn and true,
When feeling stirs, I take it up anew.