Page from Ts’ao Chih’s “Worlds of Dust and Jade”

This summer, I discovered Chinese poetry, particularly as translated by the excellent Red Pine, alias Bill Porter. The poet Ts’ao Chih had his problems dealing with the Chinese court in Loyang and wrote a magnificent poem called “Dew on the Leek.” The following is Red Pine’s translation of a section from that poem, as quoted in his Finding Them Gone: Visiting China’s Poets of the Past:

From “Dew on the Leek”

There’s no end to Heaven and Earth
light and shade take turns
people live but awhile
suddenly we’re dust in the wind
I hoped to perform meritorious deeds
to devote myself to my lord
to assist my king with my talents
with an open and unbiased heart
swimming things honor dragons of the deep
running things honor a unicorn
if creatures can recognize virtue
why not the gentlemen at court
in the works compiled by Confucius
the royal way is abundantly clear
I offer this modest brush of mine
to promote sweetness and style

As I typed this poem, I suddenly realized that I was talking about my own working life, in which I deeply felt I was not sufficiently appreciated. At least I didn’t have to be sent into exile on a hostile frontier.