Southward for sixty days I've gone,
And now at Chang-le Rapids drawn.
The perils are beyond all telling,
Where rocks and boats are clashing, swelling.
I ask the rapids' officer near,
"How far to Chao-chou from here?
When shall I get there, and what place
Shall I find there, what kind of race?"
The officer puts down his hands and smiles:
"How can you ask such questions, miles
And miles from court? Could you know well
The eastern land where you did dwell?
You know the east because you're from there;
Chao-chou's a place to make men stare.
Why are you sent to such a place?
Because you're guilty and in disgrace.
I've done no wrong, so how could I
Know what you ask? By and by
You'll get there. Why ask now in vain?"
Abashed, I'm sweating with shame and pain.
"I'm only joking, sir," he said,
"I've been there and come back, not dead.
The land's the same south of the Ridge,
But the way's long to the frontier's edge.
Three thousand li from here you'll go
To Chao-chou where the exiles flow.
The stream is foul with poisonous air
And thunder-storms rage here and there.
The crocodile is bigger than a boat;
Its fangs and eyes make people blench.
A score of miles southward, I note,
There is a sea beyond man's ken.
When hurricanes rise now and again,
They rock the sky and earth, what then?
Our sacred Emperor gives his care
To all things under heaven fair.
I've heard the prisoners set free
Come back alive across the sea.
Don't dislike this prefecture, sir!
It's for criminals to transfer.
You come when our sage sovereign reigns;
Need I explain what each word means?
If you are not discreet, you should
Be sent there. That's well understood.
Why do you stand by riverside
With a bewildered look and wide?
Big jar or small, each has its use.
Why don't you think what's your excuse?
You overflow yourself, that's why
You're sent to frontier land so nigh.
Though artisans and farmers are
Low people, they know near and far.
Each has his work to do. In court
Do you do good of any sort?
A louse between two seams you're like,
For civil or military strike.
You talk of justice and of good,
But your craft ruins brotherhood."
I knock my head and thank the officer,
Ashamed of what I did and now of her.
For twenty years an official, I
Have not repaid the country by and by.
All that the officer has said
Is true of me, I hang my head.
If I'm not put to death, I should
Thank our sage Emperor, so good.
Though far away and bad, I know
Chao-chou is not a land of woe.
I have got more than I've earned, I vow.
How dare I not congratulate myself now?"