A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems/To a Portrait Painter who desired him to sit

by Arthur Waley

TO A PORTRAIT PAINTER WHO DESIRED HIM TO SIT

You, so bravely splashing reds and blues!
Just when I am getting wrinkled and old.
Why should you waste the moments of inspiration
Tracing the withered limbs of a sick man?
Tall, tall is the Palace of Ch'i-lin;^[1]
But my deeds have not been frescoed on its walls.
Minutely limned on a foot of painting silk —
What can I do with a portrait such as that?

 

1. One of the "Record Offices" of the T'ang dynasty, where meritorious deeds were illustrated on the walls.