Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/28

16 My heart is still unchanged, but you Have uttered words now proved untrue; And you have left me to deplore A love that can be mine no more.

"For three long years I was your wife, And led in truth a toilsome life; Early to rise and late to bed, Each day alike passed o'er my head. I honestly fulfilled my part, And you—well, you have broke my heart. The truth my brothers will not know, So all the more their gibes will flow. I grieve in silence and repine That such a wretched fate is mine.

"Ah, hand in hand to face old age!— Instead, I turn a bitter page. O for the river-banks of yore; O for the much-loved marshy shore; The hours of girlhood, with my hair Ungathered, as we lingered there. The words we spoke, that seemed so true, I little thought that I should rue; I little thought the vows we swore Would some day bind us two no more."

Many of the Odes deal with warfare, and with the separation of wives from their husbands; others, with agriculture and with the chase, with marriage and feasting. The ordinary sorrows of life are fully represented, and to these may be added frequent complaints against the harshness of officials, one speaker going so far as to wish he were a tree without consciousness, without home, and without family. The old-time theme of "eat, drink, and be merry" is brought out as follows:—

"You have coats and robes, But you do not trail them; You have chariots and horses, But you do not ride in them.