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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
GOLDEN BELLS, by PO CHU-YI Poet's Biography
First Line: When I was almost forty
Last Line: Must now be postponed for fifteen years!
Alternate Author Name(s): Bai Juyi; Bo Juyi; Po Chu-i; Lo T'ien; Jyu-yi
Subject(s): China - Tang Dynasty (618-905); Fathers & Daughters
First Line: When I was almost forty
Last Line: Must now be postponed for fifteen years!
Alternate Author Name(s): Bai Juyi; Bo Juyi; Po Chu-i; Lo T'ien; Jyu-yi
Subject(s): China - Tang Dynasty (618-905); Fathers & Daughters
WHEN I was almost forty
I had a daughter whose name was Golden Bells.
Now it is just a year since she was born;
She is learning to sit and cannot yet talk.
Ashamed, -- to find that I have not a sage's heart:
I cannot resist vulgar thoughts and feelings.
Henceforward I am tied to things outside myself:
My only reward, -- the pleasure I am getting now.
If I am spared the grief of her dying young,
Then I shall have the trouble of getting her married.
My plan for retiring and going back to the hills
Must now be postponed for fifteen years!
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
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NOT BAD, DAD, NOT BAD' by JAN HELLER LEVI
A WOMAN WAKING by PHILIP LEVINE
MYRRHA TO THE SOURCE by HEATHER MCHUGH
MY FATHER'S DIARY (2) by SHARON OLDS
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