A Wife Urging Her Husband To Action Poem by Confucius

His lady to the marquis says,
'The cock has crowed; 'tis late.
Get up, my lord, and haste to court.
'Tis full; for you they wait.'
She did not hear the cock's shrill sound,
Only the blueflies buzzing round.

Again she wakes him with the words,
'The east, my lord, is bright.
A crowded court your presence seeks;
Get up and hail the light.'
'Twas not the dawning light which shone,
But that which by the moon was thrown.

He sleeping still, once more she says,
'The flies are buzzing loud.
To lie and dream here by your side
Were pleasant, but the crowd
Of officers will soon retire;
Draw not on you and me their ire!'