Laughing Under the Quilt (衾中笑)衾中笑
人間可笑事頻生。晝日情多笑未遑。半夜衾中潛自笑。殷於手拍口兼張。
In this world laughable things arise again and again, but by day the mind is too busy to find leisure for laughing. At midnight, under the quilt, I quietly laugh to myself, and it is louder than clapping my hands and opening my mouth besides.
衾中所笑雖非一。第一呵呵孰最先。文拙平時遲澁者。揮毫示捷貴人前。
The things I laugh at under the quilt are not one only, but what is first of all, the one I guffaw at most? A man clumsy at writing, slow and halting at ordinary times, who flourishes his brush before a great man to feign quickness.
笑中第二又誰是。爲吏稍貪深自秘。一物入門人盡知。對人好說淸於水。
And who is the second among my laughs? An official who is a little greedy and hides it deep. Let one single thing come in at his gate and everybody knows, yet before others he loves to say he is clearer than water.
笑中第三女不颺。鏡裏自看難自識。有人報導你顔姝。妄擬正妍多作色。
The third among my laughs is a woman whose face is not fair. She looks at herself in the mirror and still cannot tell, and if anyone tells her, "Your face is pretty," she foolishly supposes she is truly lovely and paints her looks again and again.
Interlinear notes 1
作一作喜。
作 stands as 喜 in one edition.
笑中第四是予身。涉世無差僥倖耳。直方迂闊人皆知。自謂能圓登此位。
The fourth among my laughs is my own self: that I have gone through the world without a misstep is mere good luck. Everyone knows that I am upright and square and out of touch with the world, yet I suppose myself to have managed smoothly and risen to this place.
笑中第五是浮屠。邂逅佳人心已寄。目送飛鴻佯不看。故爲灰冷無心士。
The fifth among my laughs is the monk. When he meets a beautiful person his heart is already given, yet his eyes follow the wild goose in flight as though he were not looking, and he feigns to be cold as ash, a man with no heart at all.