Sacred Texts  Confucianism  Index  Previous  Next 


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


BOOK I

Section III. The Decade of Min Yü Hsiao Tzŭ

I

The Min Yü Hsiao Tzŭ; narrative. Appropriate to the young King Chêng, declaring his sentiments in the temple of his father.

Alas for me, still but a child!
  For all too soon I know
The cares of the unsettled state.
  Too heavy will they grow.
I shrink in sorrow from the task;
  But, O my mighty sire,
To filial virtue, all thy life,
  Thou ever didst aspire. p. 451

My great grandsire, though now enshrined,
  To thee still living proved,
As if in courtyard and in hall
  His royal person moved,
And I, the little child, will be
  As reverent night and day.
To you, great kings, such homage I
  Now on your throne will pay.


Next: II. Fang Lo