History & Politics
The Soldier's Hardships
Translated by William Jennings (1891) · From The Shi King (Jennings, 1891), Part II, Book viii
What plant is now not sallow?
What day its march can spare?
What mortal but must toil and moil
Here, there, and everywhere?
What plant is now not sombre?
What mortal undistraught?
Poor troopers, we alone of men
Are less than human thought.
Not unicorns, not tigers,
Why haunt we the wild waste?
Poor troopers, night nor morn can we
The sweets of leisure taste.
Leave to the long-tailed foxes
To haunt the sombre grass.
Along the king's highway should we
In our light waggons pass.
Cite this poem
MLA
Shi Jing (The Book of Songs). “The Soldier's Hardships.” Translated by William Jennings. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/shi-jing/430/.
Chicago
Shi Jing (The Book of Songs). “The Soldier's Hardships.” Translated by William Jennings. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/shi-jing/430/.
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