Shao Min (Sorrow of Shao)

Shao Min

Preface: "Shao Min" is a poem in which Fan Bo satirizes King You of Zhou for his great misrule. Min means compassion, compassion that the world no longer has a worthy minister like the Duke of Shao.

Heaven is cruel and fierce,

Heaping calamities on the land, bringing famine and distress to the people,

The people are scattered and flee, our borders are all desolate.

Heaven casts a net to harm the people,

Grubs and worms breed internal strife,

Slanderers and sycophants neglect their duties,

Confusion and depravity run rampant,

Truly they will destroy our state.

The petty slander and malign,

Unaware of their own stains,

The noble toil with diligence and care,

Long uneasy, their hearts in turmoil,

My rank has been degraded.

It is like that year of great drought,

When the wild grass could not flourish,

Like withered grass hanging on trees,

I look upon this state,

There is no part not collapsing.

In the days of former plenty,

It was not like this present hardship.

In these days of suffering,

It is not like this present misery.

As for coarse grain and fine rice,

Why do they not yield of themselves,

Instead abetting this calamity?

When the pond dries up,

They do not say it begins from the bank;

When the spring dries up,

They do not say it begins from the source.

Vast is this disaster,

The harm still spreads,

Will it not reach me myself?

In former times the former kings received Heaven's mandate,

They had a worthy minister like the Duke of Shao,

Who opened up a hundred li of territory in a day;

Now, in one day, they shrink the territory by a hundred li.

Alas, how lamentable!

These people of today

No longer honor the virtuous of old.

"Shao Min" has seven stanzas: four stanzas of five lines each, and three stanzas of seven lines each.

"Dang zhi Shi" has eleven pieces, ninety-two stanzas, and seven hundred and sixty-nine lines.

"Zhou Song"