A Song for the Senior Compiler of the History Office and Rectifier of Omissions under the Chancellery

In order to satisfy

My contrary side, I took

Up my post, poems up my sleeve—

Oh, I have the temperament

To live in cloudy mountains

And be idle all my days—

I am not your gentleman

Poet tempted to office

And service for stature’s sake.

I’m a genuine hermit,

Du Mu, unlike you. It’s true—

I wasn’t born to Duling,

And I’ve had to do some things

For this proverbial roof

On my head, clothes on my back.

You carved your wasted chances,

Feckless loves in blue mansions,

Made them ambiguous chants.

I lived ambiguity,

Bent corporeality,

Blew debt, and took my chances.