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The Book of Poetry, tr. by James Legge, [1876], at sacred-texts.com


IV

The Yang Chih Shui; allusive. The troops of Chou, kept on duty in Shin, murmur at their separation from their families.

1    Fretted the waters seem,
    Yet gently flows the stream;—
Unable a fagot to bear.
    Guarding Shin here we roam,
    Wives and children at home,
All absent our toils who should share. p. 78
    We think of them ever;
    Thought parts from them never;—
What month shall we homeward repair?

2    Fretted the waters seem,
    Yet gently flows the stream;—
A bundle of thorns twill not bear.
    Guarding Fu here we roam,
    Wives and children at home,
All absent our toils who should share.
    We think of them ever;
    Thought parts from them never;—
What month shall we homeward repair?

3    Fretted the waters seem,
    Yet gently flows the stream;
The reed bundle powerless to bear.
    Guarding Hsü here we roam,
    Wives and children at home,
All absent our toils who should share.
    We think of them ever;
    Thought parts from them never;—
What month shall we homeward repair?

p. 79


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