conveyed home! Alas for us the toiled people! Would that we could have rest[1]!
The sons of the east Are summoned only (to service), without encouragement; While the sons of the west Shine in splendid dresses. The sons of boatmen Have furs of the bear and grisly bear. The sons of the poorest families Form the officers in public employment.
If we present them with spirits, They regard them as not fit to be called liquor. If we give them long girdle pendants with their stones, They do not think them long enough.
There is the Milky Way in heaven[2], Which looks down on us in light; And the three stars together are the Weaving Sisters[3], Passing in a day through seven stages (of the sky).
Although they go through their seven stages, They complete no bright work for us. Brilliant shine the Draught Oxen[4], But they do not serve to draw our carts. In the east there is Lucifer[5]; In the west there is Hesperus[5]; Long and curved
- ↑ This stanza describes, directly or by symbol, the exactions from which the people of the east were suffering.
- ↑ 'The Milky Way' is here called simply the Han,=in the sky what the Han river is in China.
- ↑ 'The Weaving Sisters, or Ladies,' are three stars in Lyra, that form a triangle. To explain what is said of their passing through seven spaces, it is said: 'The stars seem to go round the circumference of the heavens, divided into twelve spaces, in a day and night. They would accomplish six of them in a day; but as their motion is rather in advance of that of the sun, they have entered into the seventh space by the time it is up with them again.'
- ↑ 'The Draught Oxen' is the name of some stars in the neck of Aquila.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Liû Î (Sung dynasty) says: 'The metal star (Venus) is in the
