After extreme misfortune, fortune's heard
Alas, for you alone, this proved absurd
Pitiable disaster struck in tender youth
Chronic illness dominated your prime, in truth
Your spare strength made writings elegant
Born knowing rites and music, brilliant
Your brushwork stayed for imperial tent's view
Your verses entered palace halls, they flew
The state marveled at your Zhong Jun-like youth
All knew your Jia Yi-like talent and truth
High officials left the seat of honor bare
Friends and acquaintances pushed you fore with care
I regret not relying on a poor cart's track
Hoping finally to cross the great river, back
A talent so great expected high rank's grace
But life was short, leaving official robes' space
Fortune for good, heard in records of past
Destroying the good, dark Heaven's will vast
What crime clipped the phoenix's wing?
Why did the Dragon Spring sword shatter, this thing?
Like the owl omen that inspired Changsha's rhyme
Like the unicorn's end in Qufu's record of time
In this realm, your way was broad and grand
Within the seas, my feeling leans, understand
Suddenly gone, I doubt and think you're near
Deep in thought, I grasp the severed tie, clear
In life, we couldn't bear to part
After death, to whom can I impart?
For this, feeling is hard to express
Making memory entangle even more, no less
Your family home by the clear Wei's bend
You're buried by the old graves, at the end
Gone forever from Chang'an's road
Only hearing of the capital's burial abode
The banner-carriage leaves the suburbs' ground
Homeland hidden in clouds, sky-bound
Surely this parting has no returning date
How could it be like the old days' rotate?
Family at the gate suffers bitter pain
Travelers on the road pity your gain
Seeing guests off, grief halts advance
The journey's path, mud hinders the chance
Words of gift become a dirge's song
The offering mat is the farewell feast, long
Thinking of past times hand in hand
Our noble rapport never did disband
In South Mountain, we both lived in retreat
In East Luoyang, like immortals, complete
Before I realized time between our face and voice
How could I bear this shift from life's choice?
We drank at Golden Valley when flowers bloomed
Slept in bamboo groves when moonlight loomed
Your capital rhapsody spread throughout the land
The whole court watched your medicine boat, grand
All lords fixed their gaze upon you then
How dare a humble thing stand as your kin?
By mistake, I shared your like-minded aim
And thus was linked to a jade tree's fame
I didn't expect you'd hang your sword first, gone
Always fearing I'd wield the whip later on
In doing good, I have no match for you
My understanding friend, now cut from view
Even if the lute's sound does not fade
It will in the end follow a mournful serenade