Jade placed in a white jade pot, its clarity and purity first appear.
Pearls strung on crimson thread, their luminous transparency is first seen.
A Moye sword, unquenched by anyone, is but iron with two blades buried in dark soil.
The Qin mirror, unwiped by anyone, is a moon shrouded in mist.
A fine steed confined in a narrow space, its bones and sinews cramped into knots.
A coiling dragon in a foot-deep pond, fish and frogs share the same hole.
A great ship without a vast sea, floats and boasts on mere ripples.
Beams and pillars without a grand hall, lie toppled under frost and snow.
The roc without endless sky, lifts its wings only to be tethered.
The camphor tree without deep earth, its precarious roots truly totter.
Jade disc without Bian He, willingly lies among common stones.
Shun and Yu without Yao, their names perish with rotting grass.
Divine work conceals divine objects, divine objects distinguish the divine.
Divine beings are rare in the world, thus divine work ceases.
Divine objects are not for naught, they are deployed when used.
Yu's work brought order to the nine provinces, Shun's virtue pleased all under heaven.
The jade disc served as the imperial seal, the jade tablet prayed for great harvest.
A thousand-fathom camphor tree trunk, a ninety-thousand-mile roc rests.
Beams and pillars shelter the people, great ships aid future sages.
The coiling dragon brings rain in drought, the fine steed gallops like lightning.
The mirror hung reveals treacherous hearts, the sword swept cleaves monstrous serpents.
Pearls and jade shine with carriage light, ice's purity warms the seated circle.
These objects once lay in mud, these words for whom are spoken?
Now all ears are ordinary, not that I won't speak for you.