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The above, my version I admit, is almost doggerel, which is meant merely to give the meaning of the Chinese text. But here is the Chinese text which is not doggerel, but poetry—poetry simple to the verge of colloquialism, yet with a grace, dignity pathos and nobleness which I cannot reproduce and which perhaps it is impossible to reproduce, in English in such simple language.
人生不相見 動如參與商
今夕復何夕 共此燈燭光
少壯能幾時 鬚髮各已蒼
訪舊半為鬼 驚呼熱中腸
焉知二十載 重上君子堂
昔別君未婚 兒女忽成行
怡然敬父執 問我來何方
問答未及已 兒女羅酒漿
夜雨剪春韭 新炊間黃粱
主稱會面難 一舉累十觴
十觴亦不醉 感君故意長
明日隔山岳 世事兩茫茫
