Nature ever calls people to live
Along with her; why should I be lured
By transient rank and honours?
Tonight my wife must watch alone
the full moon over Fu-zhou;
I think sadly of my sons and daughters far away,
too young to understand this separation
or remember our life in Chang'an.
In fragrant mist, her flowing hair is damp;
In clear moonlight, her jade-white arms are cold.
When will we lean at the open casement together
while the moonlight dries our shining tears?
Within the vermilion gate, meats and wines go to waste
While on the roadside lie the frozen bodies of the poor.