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


VII

The Ch‘ên Fêng; allusive. A wife tells her grief because of the absence of her husband, and his forgetfulness of her.

1The falcon swiftly seeks the north,
And forest gloom that sent it forth.
Since I no more my husband see,
My heart from grief is never free.
O how is it, I long to know,
That he, my lord, forgets me so? p. 148

2Bushy oaks on the mountain grow,
And six elms where the ground is low.
But I, my husband seen no more,
My sad and joyless fate deplore.
O how is it, I long to know,
That he, my lord, forgets me so?

3The hills the bushy wild plums show,
And pear trees grace the ground below.
But, with my husband from me gone,
As drunk with grief, I dwell alone.
O how is it, I long to know,
That he, my lord, forgets me so?


Next: VIII. Wu I