Clouds in the sky like white robes,
In a moment change to grey hounds.
Past and present share the same moment,
In human life, nothing is impossible.
Lately, a woman gouged out her eye and left her husband,
A daughter of Hedong, surnamed Liu.
Her husband sternly cited the classics,
Wang Jiyou, a traveler from Fengcheng.
Ten thousand volumes he often recited in silence,
The Classic of Filial Piety always in hand.
Poor, old, thin, his family sold sandals,
Kindly people approached him with wine.
The Governor of Yuzhang, descendant of Emperor Gao,
Treated him as a guest with respect for long.
They say for three years he never spoke,
Cautious and fearful, he kept his mouth shut.
The Governor trusted him without doubt,
Life's reversals also appear ugly.
A flawless bright moon is not easily found,
Purple aura dense, still charging the Dipper.
In perilous times, true heroes can be relied upon,
Can these two be placed by the ruler's side?
The Governor recently governed south of the mountains,
The people missed him like parents.
Wang Sheng long ago paid his respects,
Beyond high mountains, all seems but mounds.
Employed as Xihe, heaven would be ordered,
Employed to level waters and earth, land would be firm.
Wang discourses on the Way, hindered by rivers and lakes,
Li serves with doubt, a void before and after.
In death becoming stars, never extinguished,
To make his lord like Yao and Shun, how could he decay?
We, the mediocre, trudge along well-fed,
Feng Hou and Li Mu forever look back in longing.