A Letter of Thanks to the Chancellor Gi (奇平章) for Summoning Me to the Feast of the Lustration Rite謝奇平章召赴禊宴啓
云云。美景良辰。方肆流觴之飮。下官末客。猥蒙折簡之招。退省僭榮。不勝厚恧。恭惟相國閣下。身生紈綺。職摠衡鈞。將相兼資。極門闈之燻灼。風流籍甚。寓泉石之逍遙。侔衡霍而鑿出奇峯。蹙江淮而疏開方沼。彩鴨浮沈於碧浪。翠禽嘐唳於雕籠。若此游觀。未曾聞見。及乎九陽令節。三月上除。追鄭國之遺風。方修禊事。慕蘭亭之勝集。特召嘉賓。豈繄圭竇之蹤。得與錦筵之末。伏念某。跅𧿶之士。腐蘭之儒。乃緣居近於芳隣。亦被許參於高宴。間靑林而鋪座。環流水以送柸。瑤箏錦瑟之哀彈。絃將手語。雲䯻月眉之絶艶。目與心期。輕風飄弄於舞衫。飛絮撲緣於歌扇。飮酣侵暮。倒載還家。醉夢方醒。忽若悞遊於仙府。宿酲未解。闕然阻謝於台階。第切感銘。益傾禱頌云云。
And so forth. In a fine scene and a good season you have just now given free rein to the sport of floating cups upon the water. A guest of the lowest seat and the meanest office has presumed to receive your summons in a short letter. Withdrawing and looking back upon this presumptuous honor, I cannot master my thick shame.
I consider respectfully that His Excellency the Minister was born in body to a house of brocade and holds in his duties the beam of the balance. Joining in yourself the stuff of general and of chief minister, the flourishing of your house could not be greater; and your manner and taste being much spoken of, you have lodged your roaming among springs and stones. Matching Mount Heng (衡山) and Mount Huo (霍山), you have carved out strange peaks; narrowing the Yangtze and the Huai, you have opened out a squared pond. Lovely ducks float and dive on the green ripples, and kingfisher-colored birds cry in carved cages. Such sights as these I had never heard of or seen before.
When the fine season of the ninefold sun came, on the first Snake day (上巳) of the third month, you followed the surviving custom of the state of Zheng and performed the lustration rite, and, longing after the outstanding gathering at the Orchid Pavilion (蘭亭), you summoned fine guests in particular. How could one whose traces pass no further than a carved door be allowed a place at the end of the brocade mat?
I prostrate myself and consider that I am a scholar who does as he pleases and is bound by nothing, a Confucian like a rotted orchid. Only because I live near your fragrant neighborhood was I too permitted a place at your lofty feast. We spread our mats among the green woods and sent the cups around, following the flowing water. The plaintive playing of the jade zither and the brocade lute — the strings spoke with the hands; the outstanding beauty of cloudlike coiled hair and moonlike brows — the eyes made their tryst with the heart. A light wind made sport of the dancers' robes as it blew them, and the flying willow-down struck and clung to the singers' fans.
When the wine had ripened and evening came, I was carried home upside down. Just as I woke from my drunken dream, it seemed to me that I had strayed by mistake into the government house of the immortals. The old fumes of the wine would not clear away, and so I left undone the thanking of Your Lordship. Only my feeling is earnest; I carve it on my heart and the more incline myself to pray and praise. And so forth.