行路難(其三) 李白

行路難(其三)       李白  (701- 762)

有耳莫洗潁川水，有口莫食首陽蕨。
含光混世貴無名，何用孤高比雲月。
吾觀自古賢達人，功成不退皆殞身。
子胥既棄吳江上，屈原終投湘水濱。
陸機雄才豈自保，李斯稅駕苦不早。
華亭鶴唳詎可聞，上蔡蒼鷹何足道。
君不見吳中張翰稱達生，秋風忽憶江東行。
且樂生前一杯酒，何須身後千載名。

Arduous Road (Poem No. 3)      Li Bai (701- 762)

Never wash your ears in the River Ying waters,

Never eat the brackens of Mt. Shouyang no matter how hungry you are,
Lie low be ordinary, and cut no conspicuous figures,
To the solitary lofty moon and drifting clouds in the heavens you need not compare,
From of old people of great feat who prospered,
Had perished if they had not soon retired,
Wu Zixu of Wu killed himself and found his body dumped in the Wu River,
Qu Yuan of Chu drowned himself in the Xiang River,
A man as well learnt and ingenious as Lu Zhan of Jin could not even have himself protected and spared,
The Prime Minister Li Si of the First Emperor of Qin should have regretted he had not earlily retired,
Couldn’t hear the herons squawk anymore Lu Zhan distressed over,
Can’t you not see the sanguine Zhang Han of Jin who was made by the Prince of Qi a major courtier,
When the autumnal gale brings in the delicacies of wild rice stew and perch stews he resolutely made up his mind to retire,
Enjoy your life with the cup of wine you are offered,
Just ignore what name you’ll leave after.