A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems/On a Box containing his own Works

by Arthur Waley

ON A BOX CONTAINING HIS OWN WORKS

I break up cypress and make a book-box;
The box well-made,— and the cypress-wood tough.
In it shall be kept what author's works?
The inscription says PO LO-T'IEN.
All my life has been spent in writing books,
From when I was young till now that I am old.
First and last,— seventy whole volumes;
Big and little,— three thousand themes.^[1]
Well I know in the end they'll be scattered and lost;
But I cannot bear to see them thrown away,
With my own hand I open and shut the locks,
And put it carefully in front of the book-curtain.
I am like Tēng Pai-tao;^[2]
But to-day there is not any Wang Ts'an.^[3]
All I can do is to divide them among my daughters
To be left by them to give to my grandchildren.

 

1. I.e., separate poems, essays, etc.
2. Who was obliged to abandon his only child on the roadside.
3. Who rescued a foundling.