Page:A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1919).djvu/208

 THE OLD MAN WITH THE BROKEN ARM

Hsin-fēng an old man — four-score and eight; The hair on his head and the hair of his eyebrows — white as the new snow. Leaning on the shoulders of his great-grandchildren, he walks in front of the Inn; With his left arm he leans on their shoulders; his right arm is broken. I asked the old man how many years had passed since he broke his arm; I also asked the cause of the injury, how and why it happened? The old man said he was born and reared in the District of Hsin-fēng; At the time of his birth — a wise reign; no wars or discords. "Often I listened in the Pear-Tree Garden to the sound of flute and song; Naught I knew of banner and lance; nothing of arrow or bow. Then came the wars of T'ien-pao and the great levy of men; Of three men in each house,— one man was taken. And those to whom the lot fell, where were they taken to? Five months' journey, a thousand miles — away to Yün-nan. We heard it said that in Yün-nan there flows the Lu River; [ 202 ]