Tao Yuanming
I planted beans at the foot of Nanshan, and the weeds in the field were covered with peas.
In the morning, I will promote waste and filth and bring the lotus hoe back to ③.
The road is narrow and the vegetation is long, and the evening dew is stained with clothes.
If you don't have enough clothes, you may not violate them.
[Notes]
① Return to rural home: Return to rural hometown. There are five songs in Return to the Garden, and this is the third song.
② Morningside: Get up early. Rb: Governance. Hu: There are many weeds.
3 and the moon: to the moon. Hoe: Carry a hoe.
④ Narrow road (xi×): narrow road.
⑤ Wet (zhān): wet.
6 but make: just make. Wéi: Don't go against your will.
[explanation]
Tao Yuanming lived in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He didn't want to live in the dark officialdom and returned to the countryside. This poem describes his hard life from morning till night every day. The work is very hard, and the clothes are wet with dew, but the poet said: Only sticking to your own ideals is the most precious.