Living
Tell Me Now
Translated by Arthur Waley (1918) · From A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1918)
Living
“Tell me now, what should a man want
But to sit alone, sipping his cup of wine?”
I should like to have visitors come and discuss philosophy
And not to have the tax-collector coming to collect taxes:
My three sons married into good families
And my five daughters wedded to steady husbands.
Then I could jog through a happy five-score years
And, at the end, need no Paradise.
Cite this poem
MLA
Chi, Wang. “Tell Me Now.” Translated by Arthur Waley. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/wang-chi/0/.
Chicago
Chi, Wang. “Tell Me Now.” Translated by Arthur Waley. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/wang-chi/0/.
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