History & Politics
Laments in the East at the Duke's Recall
Translated by William Jennings (1891) · From The Shi King (Jennings, 1891), Part I, Book xv
We have netted the fish, — the rudd, the bream!
We have met with our Chief in the dragon-robe
And the skirts that with broideries gleam.
There the wild-geese wing o'er the isles their way!
And the Duke returns? Hath he here no room?
Must our guest but a brief time stay?
Ha, the wild-geese fly o'er the upland plain!
So the Duke must leave, to return no more!
Could our guest but two nights remain?
O for this was the dragon-robe then worn!
Yet O suffer our Duke not thus to go,
Nor allow us his loss to mourn!
Cite this poem
MLA
Shi Jing (The Book of Songs). “Laments in the East at the Duke's Recall.” Translated by William Jennings. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/shi-jing/401/.
Chicago
Shi Jing (The Book of Songs). “Laments in the East at the Duke's Recall.” Translated by William Jennings. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/shi-jing/401/.
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