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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DAY DREAMS, by TSO SSU
First Line: When I was young I played with a soft brush
Last Line: But refusing with a bow, retire to a cottage in the country.
Alternate Author Name(s): T'ai-ch'ung+(1)
Subject(s): Books; China - Middle Ages (600 B.c.- 618 A.d.); Writing & Writers; Reading
First Line: When I was young I played with a soft brush
Last Line: But refusing with a bow, retire to a cottage in the country.
Alternate Author Name(s): T'ai-ch'ung+(1)
Subject(s): Books; China - Middle Ages (600 B.c.- 618 A.d.); Writing & Writers; Reading
WHEN I was young I played with a soft brush
And was passionately devoted to reading all sorts of books.
In prose I made Chia I my standard:
In verse I imitated Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju.
But then the arrows began singing at the frontier.
And a winged summons came flying to the City.
Although arms were not my profession,
I had once read Jang-Chu's war-book.
I shouted aloud and my cries rent the air:
I felt as though Tung Wu were already annihilated.
The scholar's knife cuts best at its first use
And my dreams hurried on to the completion of my plan.
I wanted at a stroke to clear the Yang-tze and Hsiang,
And at a glance to quell the Tibetans and Hu.
When my task was done, I should not accept a barony,
But refusing with a bow, retire to a cottage in the country.
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