Living
Humanity
Translated by Herbert A. Giles (1898) · From Chinese Poetry in English Verse (1898)
Living
Oh spare the busy morning fly!
Spare the mosquitos of the night!
And if their wicked trade they ply
Let a partition stop their flight.
Their span is brief from birth to death;
Like you they bite their little day;
And then, with autumn's earliest breath,
Like you too they are swept away.
Cite this poem
MLA
Yü, Han. “Humanity.” Translated by Herbert A. Giles. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/han-yu/5/.
Chicago
Yü, Han. “Humanity.” Translated by Herbert A. Giles. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/han-yu/5/.
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