Though I knew southern fields in song
long ago, I’d never walked out into them.

Invariably hungry, Yen prefected wisdom,
but how can I ignore spring breaking out

here? At dawn, loading up my cart and
setting out, I already feel far away.

Birds sing, celebrating the new season.
Cool winds bring blessings in abundance,

and in these distances empty of people,
bamboo crowds country paths. Now I see

why that farmer laughing at Confucius
lived so far away and never went back.

My way seems childish to the world-wise,
but what I nurture here never grows thin.

translated by David Hinton