The rivers-and-lakes recluse has a heaven-sent, unique bone,
Short hair, when scratched, hangs half-disheveled like tumbleweed.
Hand holding a lone bamboo staff, dragging a cold cocoon,
Mouth reciting ancient verses of the Canglang waters.
The verses speak of the most ancient, myriad ages past,
When people's nature was wild, without rituals or winds.
At night they roosted mixed with birds and beasts,
Alone they built frames with crisscrossing branches.
Thus they were called the Nest-Builders,
People revered them like lords and teachers.
Back then they only imitated magpies and crows,
How could they have intended to display hierarchy?
Without cause, later sages drilled and broke it apart,
One school led forward, a thousand streams followed.
Multiple methods vexed and confused, primal energy died,
Daily they made written characters breed deceit and fraud.
The sages' work gradually wasted away,
Yet there remain fishermen, content and thriving.
Wind and waves don't trouble just one scholar;
All kinds of tools and vessels can be put to use.
Sparse nets, rotten weirs, perch and mandarin fish escape,
Only losing restraint, no slander or flaw.
What the world calls a fine man,
I see as a woman keeping a beard and brows.
Slavish demeanor, kneeling like a real beggar,
Yet they deem integrity as madness and folly.
Therefore, my head desires to be loose,
Not loose, the tall cap stands majestic.
Therefore, my waist desires to be loose,
Not loose, the jade pendants hang scattered.
Walking loose, follow what suits;
Sitting loose, lean as you will.
Speaking loose, echoes in empty valleys;
Laughing loose, spring clouds draped aside.
Clothes loose, single or double as convenient;
Food loose, sour or salty as fitting.
Calligraphy loose, mixed regular and cursive;
Wine loose, sweet mellow or thin.
House loose, leaning straight or slanting;
Trees loose, rows uneven.
Guests loose, forgetting hairpins and shoes;
Birds loose, empty cages by the pond.
Outside things, once loosened,
Why doubt the loosening of the heart within?
I share no fiefs or lands with feudal lords,
Nor guard walled ramparts for the Son of Heaven.
In peace, I tend mulberry and oak;
In chaos, I flee with wife and child.
Golden bridles, shell-decked belts I've never known,
White blades would kill me in my humble life.
I hear some barbarian generals betray grace,
Commanding iron steeds like the wind.
The Emperor young, the Ministers few,
At the axis, they themselves request banners and flags.
Divine lances all drawn from Imperial Guard's array,
Embroidered sun, moon, coiling dragons, hornless serpents.
Taizong's foundation was quite firm and secure,
Petty rebels' betrayal should be annihilated.
The Imperial Guard, set up near Emperor Suzong's time,
Suppressed and checked Fuguo's rivalry for power.
Surely a great part of the vicious rebels must be cut down,
Must summon fierce warriors to hold army banners.
Rebel forts in four directions still occupy land,
The dead expose bones, the living suffer cold and hunger.
Returning home, I plan to shoulder hoe and rain-hat,
Scolded by clerks, already blamed for late rent payment.
Raising an army, a hundred thousand costs a day,
Not less than a thousand gold, how to sustain it?
Now only sharp tongues gather taxes like dustpan,
What leisure to bow heads and pity widows, orphans?
Equalizing waste, repairing ruin—is there no way?
Set in records, propping up collapse and decay.
Ice-and-frost robes, trousers—easy as turning a palm,
Pale-faced young lords simply do not know.
The rivers-and-lakes recluse grieves the ancient way,
Far and long, luckily寄托 the pride of Fuxi's age.
The court has not yet debated saving the common people,
I receive the title 'Rivers-and-Lakes Recluse' bestowed.