Presented Beneath the Palace Watchtower to Middle Secretary Pei, Qian Qi (330 Tang Shi #198)
Mid-spring as yellow orioles fly to Shanglin Park,
The city that’s forbidden at dawn is dark, so dark.
The Changle clock-chime fades amid the outside blooms.
The willows by Dragon Pool seem deep within the rain.
Warm sunlight’s not dispelled—it’s the poor road I resent—
I cherish the heavenly Han—holding his “sun” in my heart—
Ten years since I presented rhymes, yet never a chance.
A shame: pleading for white hair be matched with a fine pin.
赠阙下裴舍人
二月黄鹂飞上林，
春城紫禁晓阴阴。
长乐钟声花外尽，
龙池柳色雨中深。
阳和不散穷途恨，
霄汉长怀捧日心。
献赋十年犹未遇，
羞将白发对华簪。
Pei is unknown but he has the same title as Middle Secretary Jia Zhi (#177-8), fairly high up in the Secretariat. Shanglin (“above the woods”) gardens and Changle (“long happiness”) palace were from the Han Dynasty, here used as stand-ins for Tang equivalents—which suggests some there’s political sensitivity in obliquely critiquing a dearth of good postings (plus being consonant with the next note). The dawn is described as yin-yin, which like all things yin-and-yang could point towards any of various senses, in this case on the lines of dark/shade/dense/lush/cool/wet. “Presenting rhymes” refers to Sima Xiangru presenting a rhymed-prose rhapsody (fu) to Han Emperor Wu by way of proving his fitness for office, later taken as a prototype for the imperial examinations and used as a highfalutin’ term for passing them. (The exams did include a poetry composition portion.) A hairpin was used to fasten a cap of office to a hair-bun on top of the head, and its fineness implies higher office, at a level it’s shameful to beg to finally achieve once old.
TL;RD: Can I please have a better job before it gets embarrassing?
---L.
The city that’s forbidden at dawn is dark, so dark.
The Changle clock-chime fades amid the outside blooms.
The willows by Dragon Pool seem deep within the rain.
Warm sunlight’s not dispelled—it’s the poor road I resent—
I cherish the heavenly Han—holding his “sun” in my heart—
Ten years since I presented rhymes, yet never a chance.
A shame: pleading for white hair be matched with a fine pin.
赠阙下裴舍人
二月黄鹂飞上林，
春城紫禁晓阴阴。
长乐钟声花外尽，
龙池柳色雨中深。
阳和不散穷途恨，
霄汉长怀捧日心。
献赋十年犹未遇，
羞将白发对华簪。
Pei is unknown but he has the same title as Middle Secretary Jia Zhi (#177-8), fairly high up in the Secretariat. Shanglin (“above the woods”) gardens and Changle (“long happiness”) palace were from the Han Dynasty, here used as stand-ins for Tang equivalents—which suggests some there’s political sensitivity in obliquely critiquing a dearth of good postings (plus being consonant with the next note). The dawn is described as yin-yin, which like all things yin-and-yang could point towards any of various senses, in this case on the lines of dark/shade/dense/lush/cool/wet. “Presenting rhymes” refers to Sima Xiangru presenting a rhymed-prose rhapsody (fu) to Han Emperor Wu by way of proving his fitness for office, later taken as a prototype for the imperial examinations and used as a highfalutin’ term for passing them. (The exams did include a poetry composition portion.) A hairpin was used to fasten a cap of office to a hair-bun on top of the head, and its fineness implies higher office, at a level it’s shameful to beg to finally achieve once old.
TL;RD: Can I please have a better job before it gets embarrassing?
---L.