Death & Dying
To His Coffin
Translated by Herbert A. Giles (1898) · From Chinese Poetry in English Verse (1898)
An eternal home awaits me, shall I hesitate to go?
Or struggle for a few more hours of fleeting life below?
A home, wherein the clash of arms
I can never hear again!
And shall I strive to linger in this thorny world of pain?
The breeze will soon blow cool o'er me, and the bright moon shine o'erhead,
When blended with the gems of earth
I lie in my last bed.
My pen and ink shall go with me inside my funeral hearse,
So that if I've leisure "over there"
I may soothe my soul with verse.
Cite this poem
MLA
Shu-shao, Fang. “To His Coffin.” Translated by Herbert A. Giles. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/fang-shu-shao/0/.
Chicago
Shu-shao, Fang. “To His Coffin.” Translated by Herbert A. Giles. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/fang-shu-shao/0/.