離騷（四）

四、

長太息以掩涕兮，哀民生之多艱；

余雖好修姱以鞿羈兮，謇朝誶而夕替；

既替餘以蕙纕兮，又申之以攬芷；

亦餘心之所善兮，雖九死其尤未悔；

怨靈修之浩蕩兮，終不察夫民心。

眾女疾餘之蛾眉兮，謠諑謂餘以善淫；

固時俗之工巧兮，偭規矩而改錯；

背繩墨以追曲兮，競周容以為度；

忳郁邑餘挓傺兮，吾獨窮困乎此時也；

寧溘死以流亡兮，餘不忍為此態；

鷙鳥之不群兮，自前世而固然；

何方圜之能周兮，夫孰異道而相安；

屈心而抑志兮，忍尤而攘詬；

伏清白以死直兮，固前聖之所厚。

Translation：

Leave Sores

Ode Ⅳ

With many a sad cry and deep long sigh,

I weep that pangs loom in this human sty.

I’m bound for I favor what’s high and bright,

And for counseling I’m dismissed overnight.

He first sacked me for my rosemary band,

Then charged me with holding peonies in hand.

Virtues I treasure and evils defy;

Why regret if a thousand times I die?

Oh what a loose life the Superb does lead!

And the hearts of people he fails to read.

The courtesans envy my worm-shaped brows,

Back-biting me just as many a louse.

The time-tiders are cunning and clever;

They know what standards to change and sever.

Aiming for the curved, they kick off the straight,

They weigh the outlook and a formless state.

Oh that I am frustrated and forlorn,

Being alone flung onto time’s own thorn.

I’d rather die or be thrown on exile,

Than be reduced to such a shameless style.

Away from common birds the fierce one stands,

As has been practiced alongside time’s sands.

What’s circular can never be oblong.

What’s doggerel can’t be a holy song.

With dwarfed ambitions and a repressed heart,

I bear many a wrongful verbal dart.

To live a pure soul and die a just man,

That’s what a sage-follower must do and can.

( 龍靖遙 译)