自問有何才,兩入承明廬。
又問有何政,再駕朱輪車。
Going out alone with my staff of holly-wood. A thousand crags, a hundred hundred valleys--
矧予東山人,自惟樸且疎。
彈琴復有酒,且慕嵇阮徒。暗被鄉里薦,誤上賢能書。
In my dream-journey none were unexplored And all the while my feet never grew tired
一列朝士籍,遂爲世網拘。
And my step was as strong as in my young days.
高有罾繳憂,下有陷穽虞。
每覺宇宙窄,未嘗心體舒。
Can it be that when the mind travels backward The body also returns to its old state?
蹉跎二十年,頷下生白鬚。
何言左遷去,尚獲專城居。
And can it be, as between body and soul, That the body may languish, while the soul is still strong?
杭州五千里,往若投淵魚。
雖未脫簪組,且來泛江湖。
Soul and body--both are vanities:
吳中多詩人,亦不少酒酤。
高聲詠篇什,大笑飛杯盂。
Dreaming and waking--both alike unreal. In the day my feet are palsied and tottering;
五十未全老,尚可且歡娛。
用茲送日月,君以爲何如。
In the night my steps go striding over the hills. As day and night are divided in equal parts--
秋風起江上,白日落路隅。
回首語五馬,去矣勿踟躕。
Between the two, I _get_ as much as I _lose_.