Living

Kept Waiting in the Boat at Chiu-k’ou Ten Days by an Adverse Wind

by Po Chü-i 772–846

Translated by Arthur Waley (1918) · From A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918)

Living

White billows and huge waves block the river crossing;
Wherever I go, danger and difficulty; whatever I do, failure.
Just as in my worldly career I wander and lose the road,
So when I come to the river crossing, I am stopped by contrary winds.
Of fishes and prawns sodden in the rain the smell fills my nostrils;
With the stings of insects that come with the fog, my whole body is
sore.
I am growing old, time flies, and my short span runs out.
While I sit in a boat at Chiu-k’ou, wasting ten days!

MLA

Chü-i, Po. “Kept Waiting in the Boat at Chiu-k’ou Ten Days by an Adverse Wind.” Translated by Arthur Waley. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/po-chu-i/22/.

Chicago

Chü-i, Po. “Kept Waiting in the Boat at Chiu-k’ou Ten Days by an Adverse Wind.” Translated by Arthur Waley. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/po-chu-i/22/.

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