Written at the Gathering as the Brush Ran, Thanking Yi, Supervisor of the Household (詹事), and the Others for Spreading a Great Feast to Console Me坐上走筆。謝李詹事等諸公大設筵見慰。
我是銀臺仙。流落天之涯。所指竟何處。蒼濤何渺瀰。賈誼謫長沙。屈平作湘纍。古賢皆尙爾。天也非人爲。矧予妄庸者。見逐固其宜。但此羸病質。瘴毒安可支。預愁豹脚蚊。咬啖無休時。暫留瀕海縣。方待順風吹。鬱鬱坐空舍。靡日不攢眉。旅食尙未給。況堪索酒巵。此邑富才彥。英英鸞鳳姿。與人許意氣。緩急同欣悲。及聞老從臣。非罪見流離。華堂開綺宴。風調侈京師。杯斟碧玉醑。坐列紅裙兒。我飮鯨吸川。滿酌何曾辭。胸中百不平。一旦坦而夷。此恩何以報。臠割膚與肌。予生不能報。當以後嗣貽。子子至孫孫。天地以爲期。
I was an immortal of the Silver Terrace (銀臺), and have drifted and fallen to the sky's end. Where in the end is the place they point me to? Why are the blue waves so far and dim? Jia Yi (賈誼) was exiled to Changsha (長沙), and Qu Ping (屈平) became a convict of the Xiang River (湘水). The worthies of old all fared so; it was Heaven's doing, not man's. Still more am I a reckless and base man, and my being driven out is truly fitting. Only, this wasted and sickly body — how shall it bear the poison of the miasma (瘴氣)? I grieve beforehand that the leopard-legged mosquitoes will bite without a moment's rest. For a while I stay in a seaside district, waiting for a kindly wind to blow. Shut in, I sit in an empty house, and there is not a day I do not knit my brows. A traveler's meals I cannot yet supply — how then could I look for a cup of wine? In this district there are many men of talent, outstanding in the bearing of the luan and the phoenix. In their dealings with others they pledge high spirit, and in matters urgent and slack they share joy and sorrow. Hearing that an old attendant minister had come into exile without guilt, they opened a silken feast in a splendid house, its revelry more lavish than the capital's. Into the cups they poured wine like green jade, and on the mats were ranged children in crimson skirts. I drank as a whale gulps down a stream, so how could I decline a brimming cup? All the discontents in my breast were leveled in a single morning. With what shall I repay this kindness? Though I sliced off skin and flesh, could it be enough? If I cannot repay it while I live, I shall surely pass it on to my descendants. From my son's son to my grandson's grandson, I shall take heaven and earth for the term of it.