Time & Brevity
Illness
Translated by Arthur Waley (1918) · From A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918)
Sad, sad--lean with long illness;
Monotonous, monotonous--days and nights pass.
The summer trees have clad themselves in shade;
The autumn “lan” already houses the dew.
The eggs that lay in the nest when I took to bed
Have changed into little birds and flown away.
The worm that then lay hidden in its hole
Has hatched into a cricket sitting on the tree.
The Four Seasons go on for ever and ever:
In all Nature nothing stops to rest
Even for a moment. Only the sick man’s heart
Deep down still aches as of old!
Cite this poem
MLA
Chü-i, Po. “Illness.” Translated by Arthur Waley. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/po-chu-i/7/.
Chicago
Chü-i, Po. “Illness.” Translated by Arthur Waley. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/po-chu-i/7/.
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