Roaming at the Western Suburb Thatched Hall, My Father's Country Villa遊家君別業西郊草堂
春風扇淑氣。朝日淸且美。駕言往西郊。塍壟錯如綺。土旣膏且腴。況復釃潭水。歲收畝千鍾。足可釀醇旨。何以度年華。日日花前醉。念此任胝手。意欲親耘耔。乘輿自忘還。岸幘聊徙倚。遠岫煙蒼茫。耀靈迫濛汜。月明返田廬。醉歌動隣里。快哉農家樂。歸田從此始。
The spring wind fans a pure air, and the morning sun is clear and lovely too. I drive my cart out to the western fields, where the banks and furrows are woven like brocade. The soil is rich and fat, and besides, pond water has been led in. Year by year the furrows yield a thousand measures, enough to brew strong wine with to spare. With what shall I pass the years? Day after day I get drunk before the flowers. Thinking of this, I would take on even work that calluses the hands, and weed and heap up the soil myself. Mounting the cart, I forget of myself to go home, and pushing back my headcloth I lean this way and that for a while. On the far peaks the mist is vast and dim, and the shining sun draws near to Mengsi (濛汜). The moon being bright, I come back to the field hut, and sing in my drink until the neighboring village stirs. How bracing, the joy of a farmer's house! My return to the fields begins from here.
Interlinear notes 1
二首
Two poems.
日高醉未起。簷鷰欺人飛。童僕方巾車。苦促南畝歸。起坐罷梳沐。長嘯出松扉。林深日未炤。草露猶未晞。徐行望淸川。決渠雨霏霏。田婦白葛裙。田夫綠麻衣。相携唱田隴。荷鋤如雲圍。勉哉趁菖杏。耕穫且莫違。
The sun is high, but drunk I cannot get up, and the eave-swallows fly as though they despised me. The boy servant is just now fitting out the cart, pressing me painfully to go back to the southern fields. I rise and sit, finish combing and washing, and whistling long I go out the pine gate. The wood is deep and the sun does not shine in; the dew on the grass has not yet dried. Walking slowly I look out at the clear stream, where a ditch has been opened and the water flies about like rain. The women of the fields wear white hemp-cloth skirts, and the men of the fields green hempen clothes. Leading one another, they sing on the field banks, and those with hoes on their shoulders stand round like clouds. Put your strength to it, following the season of sweet flag and apricot, and do not miss the plowing and the harvest.