<Header>
<Author: 白居易>
<Title: 初致仕後...>
<Format: 七言律詩>
<Year: 1981>
<BookName: Tu Fu -A New Translation>
<Translator: Wu, Juntao>
<TranslatedTitle: After I First Retired …>
<BookPage: 462>
<UsedPage: 1>
<Feature: 1>
<End Header>
<Poem>
南北東西無所羈
掛冠自在勝分司
看花嘗酒多先到
拜表行香盡不知
炰筍烹魚飽餐後
擁袍枕臂醉眠時
報君一語君應笑
兼亦無心羨保釐
<End Poem>
<Translation>
South, north, east, west,
Wholly unfettered, I'm retired and free.
How much better than being tutor to the Crown Prince!
I am usually the first
To view the flowers or taste the wine;
I'm wholly negligent in presenting memorials,
In burning incense,
In observing Court etiquette.
After I've eaten my fill
Of cooked bamboo shoots and boiled fish,
Wrapped in my gown, pillowed on my arm,
I sink into a drunken sleep—
You'll probably laugh at me for these words
If at heart you don't envy
That blissful state called easy quiescence.
<End Translation>
<Formatted Translation>
South, north, east, west, wholly unfettered, I'm retired and free.
How much better than being tutor to the Crown Prince!
I am usually the first to view the flowers or taste the wine;
I'm wholly negligent in presenting memorials, in burning incense, in observing Court etiquette.
After I've eaten my fill of cooked bamboo shoots and boiled fish,
Wrapped in my gown, pillowed on my arm, I sink into a drunken sleep—
You'll probably laugh at me for these words
If at heart you don't envy that blissful state called easy quiescence.
<End Formatted Translation>