Song for Silkworms and Grain by Tu Fu

Every province and kingdom under heaven fronting on
the Great Wall, no city has avoided shield and sword.

Why can’t the weapons be cast into ploughshares,
and every inch of abandoned field tilled by oxen?

Tilled by oxen,
spun by silkworms:

don’t condemn heroes to weep like heavy rains, leave
men to grain, women to silk—let us go in song again.

translated by David Hinton

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