Source: The Book of Songs.
Selected passages:
It's me, Polygonum hydropiper. Artemisia argyi is a bandit. Mourn for my parents and give birth to me.
I am a loser, but I am a thief. Mourn for my parents and give birth to me.
Translation:
Look, mugwort has grown taller, but it's not mugwort, it's mugwort. Pity my parents, it's too hard to raise me!
Look at the wormwood that snuggles up to each other, but it's not wormwood, it's Wei Pity my parents, it's too tiring to raise me!
Poetry appreciation
This is a poem about soldiers' memory of their parents. The poet described his parents' kindness and boundless merits, served abroad all the year round, and felt extremely sad for failing to give his parents a pension, thus exposing the cruelty of corvee exploitation. One or two chapters always say that parents are diligent and hard-working; The third and fourth chapters declare that parents are boundless in kindness and can't support themselves, revealing the theme; The fifth and sixth chapters talked about the hardships of the corvee and accused him of exploitation, which made him unable to repay his parents' kindness.
Ancient and modern researchers interpret this poem and think it was written in the Western Zhou Dynasty. Only "Preface to Mao's Poems" said that they were "pricking kings", but later generations thought they were "muddy". This poem has perfect structure and neat brushwork; With the theme of not making it to the end, I repeatedly recited it affectionately. The fourth chapter, nine words "I" are used together to pour out infinite sorrow, which is a text condensed with blood and tears. Since the Han and Tang Dynasties, every time the literati read this poem, they "shed tears three times".