ON BEING REMOVED FROM HSÜN-YANG AND SENT TO CHUNG-CHOU
A remote place in the mountains of Pa [Ssech'uan]
Before this, when I was stationed at Hsün-yang,
Already I regretted the fewness of friends and guests.
Suddenly, suddenly,— bearing a stricken heart
I left the gates, with nothing to comfort me.
Henceforward,— relegated to deep seclusion
In a bottomless gorge, flanked by precipitous mountains,
Five months on end the passage of boats is stopped
By the piled billows that toss and leap like colts.
The inhabitants of Pa resemble wild apes;
Fierce and lusty, they fill the mountains and prairies.
Among such as these I cannot hope for friends
And am pleased with anyone who is even remotely human!
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