Matching the Rhymes of Jo Chung the Vice Minister's (亞卿) Answering Poem次韻趙亞卿冲見和
別來今幾日。曆草再榮落。思之不能飛。欝爾甘自縛。鄙吝漸萌芽。心神斗煩錯。瓊樹無由攀。似想姑射綽。苟幸後塵從。不博南面樂。君家禪雕龍。二陸名動洛。溫溫白眉良。愛日寒可却。憐我老草玄。環堵守寂寞。相見輒牽挽。聊慰文園涸。憶昨陪淸歡。窮日見淹泊。爲投留客轄。屢役指人杓。冥搜赤水珠。幽討靑丘雘。竹色綠環階。月華淸漏箔。得意各相忘。遣懷聊淺酌。多公似羊公。愛我如愛鶴。呼來肯氃氋。滿坐皆笑謔。
How many days is it now since we parted? The calendar plant has bloomed and fallen twice. I long for you but cannot fly to you, and stifled, take it sweetly to be bound of myself. A miserly heart gradually sprouts, and heart and spirit are suddenly vexed and disordered. There is no way to take hold of the jewel tree, and I seem only to imagine the largeness of Mount Guye (姑射山). If truly it were my luck to follow in your dust, I would not trade it for the pleasure of facing south (南面). The Chan (禪) of your house carves dragons, and the name of the two Lu brothers (陸氏) stirred Luoyang. Warm, so warm, worthy man of the white brows, you cherish the sun, enough to drive off the cold. You pity me, drafting the Taixuanjing (太玄經) into old age, keeping to stillness within narrow walls. When we meet you at once draw me in, and somewhat console the parching of Wenyuan (文園). I recall that last time I attended your clear delight, and you kept me the whole day long. To keep the guest you threw away the linchpin, and often plied the ladle that points at a man. Quietly we sought the pearl of the Red Water (赤水), quietly we dug the pigments of Qingqiu (靑丘). The bamboo's light girdles the steps in green, and moonlight leaks clear between the blinds. Having got the meaning, each of us forgot the other, and to loose our feelings we drank a little. I am grateful: the Lord is like Lord Yang (羊公), loving me as one loves a crane. When called, how should I let my feathers droop? All those filling the seats laugh and jest.
Interlinear notes 1
亞卿。趙相國季嗣。
The Vice Minister is the youngest son of Jo the Chancellor.
我村如魏瓠。枵然憂□〔⿰⿱（眘-目）亐蒦〕落。口慙金人緘。學昧石室縛。儒冠二十年。一跌萬事錯。紛華黜子夏。淸淨師公綽。豈識鵬天遊。甘守蛙井樂。浪思張翰吳。未出賈誼洛。行藏難自謀。屢卜龜厭却。世味漸闌珊。宦情何索寞。沐公淸水池。困魚免焦涸。託公高樹枝。窮鳥知栖泊。我願學陽城。道上設甌杓。何曾效江淹。愧碧亦慙雘。本是氷鄕孫。蓬門不施箔。淸節那一移。貪泉寧百酌。欲奉壽山書。東峯待金鶴。此語勿輕傳。恐落儕輩謔。
My dullness is like the gourd of Wei, and I worry at being hollow and □ falling (落). My mouth is ashamed before the Gold Man's (金人) sealed lips, and my learning is dim as to being bound to the Stone Chamber (石室). Twenty years since I donned the scholar's cap, and one stumble set all things awry. Disorder and splendor drive off Zixia (子夏), and in clearness and purity I take Gongchuo (公綽) for master. How should I know the roc's roaming of the sky? I take it sweetly to keep the pleasure of the frog's well. Vainly I think of Zhang Han's (張翰) Wu, and have not got free of Jia Yi's (賈誼) Luoyang. Hard to plan for myself whether to come forth or hide, I divined so often that the tortoise grew sick of it. The world's savor grows ever more stale; how desolate is my heart for office. Bathing in the Lord's clear pond water, the weary fish escaped drying out. Entrusting myself to the Lord's high branch, the straitened bird has learned where to roost. I wish to learn from Yangcheng (陽城), and would set out bowl and ladle on the road. When have I ever modeled myself on Jiang Yan (江淹)? I am ashamed before the green, ashamed before the pigments too. Being by birth a grandson of the land of ice, I hang no blind at my mugwort gate. How should I shift my clear integrity even once? How should I dip and drink of the Greed Spring (貪泉) a hundred times? Meaning to take up the writing of Mount Shou (壽山), I wait for the golden crane at the eastern peak. Do not pass these words about lightly: I fear falling to my companions' mockery.
Interlinear notes 1
時乞郡於相國。故云。
At that time he had asked the Chancellor for a district post, and so spoke thus.