Lament for Tongzhong
"In the year Renyin, the month Renzi, a great thief seized control, pigs grazed at the ceremonial gate, and the Qiu Garden lay in ruins. Culture prostrated itself; the gentry fell; the old glory of former days collapsed into the dust of this very moment."
In the year Renyin, the month Renzi, a great thief seized control; pigs grazed at the ceremonial gate; the Qiu Garden lay in ruins. Culture prostrated itself; the gentry fell; the old glory of former days collapsed into the dust of this very moment.
The sun sets, the road runs out; Tongzhong can never be restored. The ancients are gone; the zelkova drifts on the wind. Even the tree is thus; how much more the people! Old companions do not return; the cold wind howls desolate. Social customs decline; the gentry and cultured—this kind can never be restored. Even without the tyrant Qu, there is no lack of other thieves. Tongzhong is weak and isolated; it fades with the age.
Yet the Way of Heaven turns in cycles; it cannot be foreseen by human hands. Those who have suffered in Qiu Garden are many: in antiquity, enemy marauders; later, the Cultural Revolution; this calamity is no different. Though Chu has but three clans, it is Chu that destroys Qin—this is not forgotten. Weep through the bright day; weep through the dark night. Can the tyrant be punished? Cherish the zelkova’s memory; overcome this moment of culture’s trial. Why weep like those at the New Pavilion!