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Ode to Home Returning..........Tao Yuanming

2023-03-21 15:13Source:Chinese Literature Translation


归去来兮辞

陶渊明

Ode to Home Returning

Tao Yuanming

余家贫，耕植不足以自给。幼稚盈室，瓶无储粟，生生所资，未见其术。亲故多劝余为长吏，脱然有怀，求之靡途。会有四方之事，诸侯以惠爱为德，家叔以余贫苦，遂见用于小邑。于时风波未静，心惮远役，彭泽去家百里，公田之利，足以为酒。故便求之。及少日，眷然有归欤之情。何则？质性自然，非矫厉所得。饥冻虽切，违己交病。尝从人事，皆口腹自役。于是怅然慷慨，深愧平生之志。犹望一稔，当敛裳宵逝。寻程氏妹丧于武昌，情在骏奔，自免去职。仲秋至冬，在官八十余日。因事顺心，命篇曰《归去来兮》。乙巳岁十一月也。

My family was poor and I could not support it with produces from the land by farming. We had many children, but there was no extra grain stored in our rice crock, and I had no way to obtain daily necessities. Most of my friends and relatives advised me to look for an official position. I also had this idea, but had no way to get one. It so happened I had to go on an errand out of my native place and, as governors and magistrates of the localities took it as a virtue to cherish and use the talented, seeing my family was poor, my uncle offered help by recommending me for an official position in a small county. At that time the country was in turmoil, so I feared to be an official in a very distant place. Pengze County is only100 li away from my home, and there the harvest of grain from the public field is enough for me to make wine and drink, and therefore I asked to be appointed there. After some time, however, nostalgia for my hometown arose in my mind. Why was that? Such is my character that I believe people should not be forced to perform service. Though I was pressed by hunger and cold, I still felt it painful both physically and mentally to serve as an official against my own will. I had done so only for the purpose of earning a living and feeding my family. I was in a state of melancholy and depression for being unable to realize my life aspirations. I had intended to wait for a year before packing up and leaving at once. Before long, my younger sister who had married to the Cheng’s died in Wuchang. In a mood to go to her funeral as urgently as a galloping horse, I asked to be removed from office.From mid-autumn to winter, I had been in office for more than 80 days. After I resigned from office as I had wished, I wrote a prose poem entitled “Ode to Home Returning”. That was in the 11th lunar month of the 1st year of the reign title of Yixi of Emperor An（405 AD) of the Jin Dynasty.

归去来兮，田园将芜胡不归？既自以心为形役，奚惆怅而独悲？悟已往之不谏，知来者之可追。实迷途其未远，觉今是而昨非。舟遥遥以轻飏，风飘飘而吹衣。问征夫以前路，恨晨光之熹微。

Go back home！Why not return, now that our fields are going to lie waste？ Since I cause my soul to be enslaved by my body, why do I feel melancholy and sad? I realize that bygones are bygones, and the future is still remediable. Having gone astray yet not far, I know my present realization is right and my past doings were wrong. I rowed a boat which leisurely floated on the river, and the breeze gently stirred my clothes. I asked pedestrians the way ahead, for the light was dim and the day was yet to break.

乃瞻衡宇，载欣载奔。僮仆欢迎，稚子候门。三径就荒，松菊犹存。携幼入室，有酒盈樽。引壶觞以自酌，眄庭柯以怡颜。倚南窗以寄傲，审容膝之易安。园日涉以成趣，门虽设而常关。策扶老以流憩，时矫首而遐观。云无心以出岫，鸟倦飞而知还。景翳翳以将入，抚孤松而盘桓。

Having seen my humble house, I felt delighted and ran straight towards it. The boy servant came to greet me with joy, and my children were waiting at the front door. The garden paths are overgrown with weeds, with pine trees and chrysanthemums still growing. I took the children into the room, and found the wine cup filled to the rim. Raising the cup, I helped myself to the wine, and enjoyed the enticing trees in the yard. I leaned on the south window keeping my private pride, and my narrow house was enough to make me feel at ease. It is fun to stroll in the garden every day, with the garden gate always shut. Walking here and there with a cane in hand, I look up into the distant skies now and then. White clouds naturally float out of mountain peaks, and the weary birds fly back to their nests. The light of the setting sun is fading at dusk, and I often linger with my hand resting on the pine.

归去来兮，请息交以绝游。世与我而相违，复驾言兮焉求？悦亲戚之情话，乐琴书以消忧。农人告余以春及，将有事于西畴。或命巾车，或棹孤舟。既窈窕以寻壑，亦崎岖而经丘。木欣欣以向荣，泉涓涓而始流。善万物之得时，感吾生之行休。

Go back home！Let me cut myself off from the rest of the world. Everything is in disagreement with my interest, so what shall I pursue by going out again in a carriage? Chatting with relatives makes me happy, and being engrossed in music and books relieves me of my worries. Peasants told me that spring is coming and they were going to till the western fields. Therefore I sometimes drive a carriage fitted with an awning; sometimes I row a boat alone on a river. I explore the deep and quiet valleys, and travel over the rough and rugged hills. Trees grow lush and luxuriant, while the spring water leisurely flows. I envy the coincidence of all things with the prosperous season, and sigh that my life is drawing to a close.

已矣乎！寓形宇内复几时？曷不委心任去留？胡为乎遑遑欲何之？富贵非吾愿，帝乡不可期。怀良辰以孤往，或植杖而耘耔。登东皋以舒啸，临清流而赋诗。聊乘化以归尽，乐夫天命复奚疑！

Forget about it! How much longer can the body be sustained between the heaven and the earth? Why not just entrust nature with my life and death？Why feel uneasy and upset still intending to go somewhere? Wealth and rank is not my pursuit, and I entertain no hope of entering the celestial world. I cherish the propitious time when I can fare alone, or weed, hoe and till with the help of a cane. I ascend the eastern hill and loudly howl, or write and recite poems by clear streams. Let nature take its course until the end of my life; I feel happy with destiny, worrying about nothing!
译者：金德明Translated by Jin Deming