Hard Roads (Do not wash your ears in the Ying River waters)
行路難 (有耳莫洗潁川水) · Three Hundred Tang Poems
Hard Roads (Do not wash your ears in the Ying River waters)
Do not wash your ears in the Ying River waters, do not eat the ferns of Shouyang on your tongue.
To hide your light and blend with the world, to prize obscurity—why compare yourself to aloof clouds and the moon?
I have observed that since ancient times, the worthy and the wise who achieved merit but did not retreat all met their demise.
Wu Zixu was cast away upon the rivers of Wu, and Qu Yuan at last cast himself into the Xiang River's shore.
How could Lu Ji, with his towering talents, preserve himself? Li Si regretted too late that he had not rested his carriage.
Who can still hear the cranes crying at Huating? What is worth mentioning about the grey hounds at Shangcai?
Do you not see that Zhang Han of Wu, esteemed as a man of true insight into life, suddenly recalled the journey east of the river when the autumn wind arose?
Be content with a single cup of wine in this life—why seek a name that endures a thousand years after death?
行路難 (有耳莫洗潁川水)
有耳莫洗潁川水，有口莫食首陽蕨。
含光混世貴無名，何用孤高比雲月。
吾觀自古賢達人，功成不退皆殞身。
子胥既棄吳江上，屈原終投湘水濱。
陸機雄才一作「才多」豈自保，李斯稅駕苦不早。
華亭鶴唳詎可聞，上蔡蒼鷹何足道。
君不見吳中張翰稱一作「真」達生，秋風忽憶江東行。
且樂生前一杯酒，何須身後千載名。