瞿唐呀直瀉，灩澦屹中峙。
未夜黑巖昏，無風白浪起。
Wide enough for the passage of a single reed.[82] At Chü-t’ang a straight cleft yawns: At Yen-yü islands block the stream. Long before night the walls are black with dusk;
大石如刀劒，小石如牙齒。
一步不可行，況千三百里。
Without wind white waves rise. The big rocks are like a flat sword: The little rocks resemble ivory tusks. * * * * * We are stuck fast and cannot move a step.
苒蒻竹篾𥮘，欹危檝師趾。
一跌無完舟，吾生繫於此。
How much the less, three hundred miles?[83] Frail and slender, the twisted-bamboo rope: Weak, the dangerous hold of the towers’ feet. A single slip--the whole convoy lost:
常聞仗忠信，蠻貊可行矣。
自古漂沈人，豈盡非君子。
And _my_ life hangs on _this_ thread! I have heard a saying “He that has an upright heart Shall walk scathless through the lands of Man and Mo.”[84] How can I believe that since the world began
況吾時與命，蹇舛不足恃。
常恐不才身，復作無名死。
In every shipwreck none have drowned but rogues? And how can I, born in evil days[85] And fresh from failure,[86] ask a kindness of Fate? Often I fear that these un-talented limbs Will be laid at last in an un-named grave!