The Road Is Hard: No. 3
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
有口莫食首阳蕨。
含光混世贵无名，
何用孤高比云月？
吾观自古贤达人，
功成不退皆殒身。
子胥既弃吴江上，
屈原终投湘水滨。
陆机雄才岂自保？
李斯税驾苦不早。
华亭鹤唳讵可闻？
上蔡苍鹰何足道？
君不见吴中张翰称达生，
秋风忽忆江东行。
且乐生前一杯酒，
何须身后千载名？
English translation
If you have ears, do not wash them in the waters of Ying; if you have a mouth, do not eat the ferns of Shouyang.
Hide your light and mingle with the world — prize having no name; why use a lonely loftiness to compare yourself to cloud and moon?
I have observed that the wise and accomplished men of old, who did not withdraw when their work was done, all lost their lives.
Zixu was cast into the Wu River; Qu Yuan at last drowned beside the Xiang waters.
Lu Ji with his great talent — how could he save himself? Li Si did not unyoke his carriage soon enough.
The crane's cry at Huating — can it still be heard? The gray hawk of Shangcai — what is it worth?
Have you not seen Zhang Han of Wu, called a man who understood life? In the autumn wind he suddenly thought of the lands east of the river.
Be glad then of one cup of wine while you live — what need of a thousand years of fame after death?
Meaning
Do not learn from Xu You, who washed his ears in the Ying River; do not learn from Bo Yi and Shu Qi, who hid on Shouyang Mountain and ate wild vetches.
To live in this world, the prize is to veil one's light and dwell in obscurity; why withdraw in lofty purity and liken oneself to cloud and moon?
I have seen that the worthy and accomplished men of all ages, once their deeds were done, did not withdraw of themselves, and all came to a violent end.
Wu Zixu was cast out by the King of Wu upon the Wu River; Qu Yuan at last clasped a stone and sank himself in the Miluo.
Lu Ji, for all his grand designs, could not save himself; Li Si came to a bitter and wretched end.
Could Lu Ji still hear the crying of the cranes at his Huating villa? Could Li Si still lead his hawk and hunt at the east gate of Shangcai?
Do you not know of Zhang Han of Wu, a man of open spirit, who at the rising of the autumn wind thought of his old home east of the river?
While one lives, a cup of wine is enough for perfect joy; why care about the empty fame of a thousand years after death?
Background
Read the background
In 742 (the first year of the Tianbao era), Li Bai entered the capital at the emperor's summons and served as a Hanlin Academician in attendance. Yet once there he was not given real employment by Emperor Xuanzong; worse, he was slandered and elbowed aside by powerful ministers, and two years later he was "granted gold and dismissed," in effect driven out of Chang'an. Forced to leave the capital, with friends coming to give him a farewell feast and no hope left of securing office, he felt keenly how hard was the road of officialdom, and in a fury of indignation wrote the suite "The Way Is Hard." This poem is one of them.