On the eleventh day of the fourth month, walking in the garden with a guest, I found a rose among the thickets — I made a poem in long and short lines and showed it to Jeon Ije四月十一日。與客行園中。得薔薇於叢薄間。久爲凡卉所困。生意甚微。予卽薙草封植。埋以土撑以架。後數日見之。葉旣繁茂。花亦曄盛。於是因物有感。作長短句。以示全履之。
我懶不理園。旅草生離離。今朝撥叢薄。中有薔薇數四枝。病根露地已垂損。弱質凌風不自持。長吁復自吊。手鍤剪榛椔。地面凈如洗。煌煌擢奇姿。膏泥自封植。畫架仍撑搘。緗英媚香艶。紺葉添華滋。初雖託天力。半亦偸吾私。如嫌妲姬隱寶障。已見西子出深帷。君不見劉郞玄都空獨來。桃花凈盡但見鷰麥與兔葵。又不見杜牧湖州去較遲。深紅落盡已是成陰結子時。著意殷勤猶未見。送春寂寞空含悲。何如草堂李居士。意外逢花對酌酒一巵。寓物詑深意。靜坐復深思。若此非獨花。凡物亦如之。欲見明月珠。先漉泥沙淄。欲求后妃賢。無使寵嬖隨。欲擇人材秀。先去讒邪欺。此詩有深味。莫敎兒輩知。
I am lazy and have not tended the garden, and the grass that came up of itself has grown rank. This morning I parted the thicket, and within it were three or four branches of rose. Its sick root lay bare on the ground and was already about to spoil, and its tender body, worried by the wind, could not hold itself up. I sighed long and again mourned for it in my own heart, and with my own hand took a spade and cut away the thicket and the dry wood. When the ground had been made clean as though washed, brightly a strange form rose up. I banked it with rich earth and planted it, and propped it up with a trellis fair as a painting. Pale yellow corollas play the coquette, fragrant and lovely, and the blue-black leaves add a shining gloss. At first, though I left it to the strength of heaven, half of it I also stole from my own private strength. As though I grudged that Daji (妲己) should hide in a jeweled tent, I have already seen Xi Shi (西施) come out from the deep curtain. Have you not seen how Master Liu (劉郞) came alone and to no purpose to the Xuandu Temple? The peach blossoms were all gone, and only oats and mallows were to be seen. And have you not seen how Du Mu (杜牧) went late to Huzhou (湖州)? The deep red flowers had all fallen, and it was already the time of shade and of fruit. Setting one's mind on it and going earnestly, still one does not see it, and sending off the spring, forlorn, one holds nothing but an idle grief. How then of the Recluse Yi of the thatched hall, who meets the flower unlooked for, sits down facing it and pours a cup of wine? Lodging it in a thing, he boasts of a deep meaning, and sitting still, he thinks it over again deeply. What is like this is not the flower only; all things, indeed, are so. If you would see a pearl like the bright moon, you must first sift out the mud and the black sand; if you would seek a worthy queen, you must not let the favored girl follow after; and if you would pick out outstanding talent, you must first do away with slander and crooked deceit. This poem has a deep savor in it, so do not let the children come to know it.