“Watching the Reapers” by Bai Juyi (772-846 AD), written when Bai Juyi worked as a minor
“Watching the Reapers” by Bai Juyi (772-846 AD), written when Bai Juyi worked as a minor governmental official in Shanxi Province. Translation below by (*):Farmers have but little leisure, but the fifth month is the busiest;last night there came a strong south wind and the wheat turned to gold in the fields;came wives and daughters with carrying-poles, children with water pots, streaming out to the fields to serve the strong lads harvesting;heat from the earth burned the reapers feet; the sun played on their backs like fire,yet all were so busy they did not care; they only feared that the sun would soon set.And then I saw coming a poor woman carrying her child on her back,in her right hand some ears she had gleaned, in her left a broken basket; and I listened to her as she spoke: “The crop in my home all goes for taxes; only if I glean can I get enough to fill my stomach!”I look at myself wondering what right have I, what special virtue, to be given three hundred piculs of rice each year, enough to eat with plenty to spare;I listen and feel shame; this I cannot forget. -- source link
#chinese literature