The Pinyin version of micro-ancient poems is as follows:
Shē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē 2
wēi is slightly j ū nē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē
Shi ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē ē
Translation
It's getting dark, it's getting dark, why don't you go home? If not for the monarch, why still in the dew! It's dark, it's dark, why don't you go home? If not for the monarch, why still in the mud!
Note
(1) Type: used as an auxiliary word. Slight: (Sunlight) Decline, dusk or dark.
(2) micro: no. Weijun: If it weren't for the monarch.
(3) exposure: exposure. Invert the text to rhyme.
(4) bow: body.
Comment
As for the theme of this poem, the Preface to Mao Shi said that Li Hou was driven by Di and exiled to Wei, and his ministers advised him to return to China. Liu Xiang's Biography of Women, Zhen Shun, said that the daughter of Wei Hou married Zhuang Gong of the State of Li, but she was not accepted by her. Some people advised her to return, but she "insisted on chastity in the end, not violating women's morality, so as to follow your life" and endowed this poem with a clear ambition.
The two theories are far-fetched, because there is no historical evidence to prove whether they actually refer to Li Hou or Li Zhuang women. Yu Guanying thinks that "this is the complaint of those who suffer from hard labor" (Selected Books of Songs) is the most incisive poem.
Every two chapters of the poem start with "Decline, Decline, Hu Bugui": It's dark, it's dark, why don't you go home? The poet then confessed the reason: "the reason for the micro-monarch is that Hu is exposed in the middle"; "the bow of the micro-monarch is in the mud."
It means that for the monarch's business and to support their noble bodies, they have to work around the clock in the dew and mud all year round. In just two chapters, a few words, the inhuman situation of the enslaved people and their resentment against the rulers left a deep impression on the readers.
Background:
According to legend, there was an official who collected poems in the Zhou Dynasty in China. Every spring, he shook Mu Duo and went deep into the people to collect folk songs. After sorting out the works that can reflect the people's happiness and sufferings, he gave them to the Taishi (the official in charge of music) to compose music and sing them to the Emperor as a reference for administration. This "Decline" is a poem that profoundly reflects the social reality.