2月25日

七十詞
明 唐寅 ( 1470~1524 )

人生七十古來稀，前除幼年後除老。
中間光景不多時，又有炎霜與煩惱。
過了中秋月不明，過了清明花不好。
花前月下且高歌，急須滿把金樽倒。
世上錢多賺不盡，朝裡官多做不了。
官大錢多心轉憂，落得自家頭白早。
春夏秋冬撚指間，鐘送黃昏雞報曉。
請君細點眼前人，一年一度埋荒草。
草裡高低多少墳，一年一半無人掃。

──選自《六如居士全集》

February 25th

Poem on Seventy
Tang Yin (1470 - 1524, Ming Dynasty)
English translation: John Balcom

From time immemorial it is rare for a man to live
    to seventy,
Eliminate the years of childhood and old age and
There’s not much left between,
Save frost and worries.

After mid-autumn the moon lacks brightness.
After tomb-sweeping the flowers lose their beauty
Surrounded by flowers, under the moon, sing a song;
Make haste to fill the empty wine goblet.

There is so much money in the world that
    you cannot make it all;
There are so many positions in that court that
    you can't hold them all.
High position and plentiful money create worries,
turning your hair prematurely white.

Spring, summer, autumn and winter;
    just a snap of the fingers,
The bell sees off the dusk; the cock announces
    the arrival of the dawn.
Gentlemen, look at those people who came before you:
We come once a year to find them buried by weeds.
How many tombs are among the weeds, high and low?
Each year, half of the tombs have no one to sweep them.

── from Liuru Jushi Quanji (Complete Works of Layman Liuru)