its net, And soon (all will be caught in it). (Good) men are going away, And my heart is sad.
Right from the spring comes the water bubbling, Revealing its depth. The sorrow of my heart,—Is it (only) of to-day? Why were these things not before me? Or why were they not after me? But mysteriously great Heaven Is able to strengthen anything. Do not disgrace your great ancestors:—This will save your posterity[1].
ODE 11, Stanzas 1 and 2. The Shâo Min.
The writer appeals to Heaven, bemoaning the misery and ruin which were going on, and showing how they were due to the king's employment of mean and worthless creatures.
Compassionate Heaven is arrayed in angry terrors. Heaven is indeed sending down ruin, Afflicting us with famine, So that the people are all wandering fugitives. In the settled regions, and on the borders, all is desolation.
Heaven sends down its net of crime;—Devouring insects, who weary and confuse men's minds, Ignorant, oppressive, negligent, Breeders of confusion, utterly perverse:—These are the men employed.
- ↑ The writer in these concluding lines ventures to summon the king to repentance, and to hold out a hope that there might come a change in their state. He does this, believing that all things are possible with Heaven.
