Tang and Song Eight Great Masters' Prose Masterpieces: Translations and Annotations - Student Edition

Author: Hu Yongsheng, Wu Yun / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-07-01
Features: Now I send Jianzhong to sacrifice to you, consoling your orphan and your wet nurse. If they can provide for themselves to observe the mourning period, then wait until the mourning period ends before bringing them here; if they cannot, then bring them immediately. The other servants should also observe your mourning. If I have the strength to rebury you, I will definitely bury you in the ancestral plot of the ancestors in Heyang. After that, their fate will be as they wish. Alas! I did not know the time of your illness, nor the day of your death. While you were alive, I could not live with you and care for you together. After your death, I could not comfort you and fully express my grief. I was not by your coffin when you were being cremated, nor did I witness your burial. My actions have disappointed the gods, and thus you died prematurely. I am unkind to my parents and unloving to my children, unable to live with you and care for you, nor able to stay with you until the end of life. Now one of us is at the edge of the sky, and the other at the corner of the earth. While alive, your shadow did not depend on my form. After death, your soul did not join my dreams. It was indeed my fault—whom can I blame? Alas! The vast sky, how can my grief ever end! From now on, I will no longer care about the affairs of this world! I will return to my hometown and buy several acres of land by the Yi and Ying rivers to spend my remaining years. I will educate my son and your son, hoping they will grow up; I will raise my daughter and your daughter until they marry—this is all there is. Alas! Words have an end, but grief has no end. Do you know it, or do you not? Alas! How sorrowful! May you enjoy the offerings!