Confucius Poems

The dew lies heavy all around,
Nor, till the sun shines, leaves the ground.
Far into night we feasting sit;
...

Forth from the city in our cars we drove,
Until we halted at the pasture ground.
The general came, and there with ardor strove
...

In the fourth month summer shines;
In the sixth the heat declines.
Nature thus grants men relief;
Tyranny gives only grief.
...

The royal Wan now rests on high,
Enshrined in brightness of the sky.
Chow as a state had long been known,
And Heaven's decree at last was shown.
...

My way leads forth by the gate on the north;
My heart is full of woe.
I hav'n't a cent, begged, stolen, or lent,
And friends forget me so.
...

It floats about, that boat of cypress wood,
Now here, now there, as by the current borne.
...

As when the north winds keenly blow,
And all around fast falls the snow,
...

I climbed the barren mountain,
And my gaze swept far and wide
For the red-lit eaves of my father's home,
And I fancied that he sighed:
...

The sun is ever full and bright,
The pale moon waneth night by night.
Why should this be?
...

A pretty girl at time o' gloaming
Hath whispered me to go and meet her
Without the city gate.
I love her, but she tarries coming.
...