Source: Preface to Lanting Collection-Wang Xizhi
Partial selection:
I'm glad that between pitches, this has become a thing of the past. I still want to live happily, the situation will be very short, and finally it will be over! The ancients said, "Life and death are great." It hurts!
Translation:
What I used to like, in an instant, has become an old trace, but I can't help feeling because of it. Besides, the length of my life depends on nature, and finally it comes down to extinction. The ancients said, "Life and death are important things after all." How can it not make people sad?
Extended data:
The Creation Background of Preface to Lanting Collection
In the 9th year of Jin Yonghe (353), on the third day of the third lunar month, Wang Xizhi, who "went to Zhejiang first and was determined to win", once held an elegant gathering with 4/kloc-0 celebrities such as Gao Shi Xie An and Sun Chuo in the Lanting under the shade of Huiji Mountain (now under the Zhu Lan Mountain outside Shaoxing).
Participants wrote poems, expressed their arms and copied them into collections. It is recommended that Wang Xizhi, the convener of this gathering, write a preface to record this elegant collection, that is, the preface to Lanting Collection.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Preface to Lanting Collection