Love

The Shin Fung

by Shi Jing (The Book of Songs) poems c. 1000–600 BC; compilation traditionally ascribed to Confucius

Translated by James Legge (1876) · From The She King (1876), Part I, Book XI

Love

The falcon swiftly seeks the north,
And forest gloom that sent it forth.
Since I no more my husband see,
My heart from grief is never free.
O how is it, I long to know,
That he, my lord, forgets me so?

Bushy oaks on the mountain grow,
And six elms where the ground is low.
But I, my husband seen no more,
My sad and joyless fate deplore.
O how is it, I long to know,
That he, my lord, forgets me so?

The hills the bushy wild plums show,
And pear trees grace the ground below.
But, with my husband from me gone,
As drunk with grief, I dwell alone.
O how is it, I long to know,
That he, my lord, forgets me so ?

✦ ✦ ✦

A wife tells her grief because of the absence of her husband, and his forgetfulness of her.

MLA

Shi Jing (The Book of Songs). “The Shin Fung.” Translated by James Legge. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/shi-jing/127/.

Chicago

Shi Jing (The Book of Songs). “The Shin Fung.” Translated by James Legge. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/shi-jing/127/.

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