History & Politics

The King Che

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 IV, Book I

History & Politics

With reverence I will go
Where duty’s path is plain.
Heaven’s will I clearly know ;
Its favour to retain
Is hard. Let me not say
Heaven is remote on high,
Nor notices men’s way.
There in the starlit sky
It round about us moves,
Inspecting all we do,
And daily disapproves
What is not just and true.

Only a child am I.
Treading in duty’s way,
With effort vain I try :
Due reverence to display.
Each day throughout the year,
How slight the progress seems !
But to the vision clear
I’ll pass from broken gleams.
Aid then my feeble youth
To bear the heavy crown.
Teach me the right and truth
Through all my life to own.

✦ ✦ ✦

The young king shows his sense of what was required of him to preserve the favour of Heaven, a constant judge; intimates his good purposes; and asks the help of his ministers to be enabled to fulfil them.

MLA

Shi Jing (The Book of Songs). “The King Che.” Translated by James Legge. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/shi-jing/283/.

Chicago

Shi Jing (The Book of Songs). “The King Che.” Translated by James Legge. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/shi-jing/283/.

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