Dai Shulun is so grumpy
A Hard Road to Walk Dai Shulun It’s a hard road to walk. When will it bring me wealth? In Huaiyin, Han Xin heard halfwits mock, And Ruan Ji spent years in poverty, Heroes have always been upended, Aristos are no better than meat vendors, In Chang’an the traffic follows big spenders, Swirling around them, great crowds Of attendants and hangers-on raise dark clouds. Their white eyes flash at us so proud, As they slaughter goats and cows, As casually as cutting okra plants. They’d have the daylight shorter Just so they can feast and pleasure And embrace the painted ladies at their leisure. Yang Xiong shut his doors and studied his books for nothing! Outside his doors, the jewelled spring grass was growing… Better turn around with a flick of your gown: That work to make your name, in this vapid age, is in vain! 戴叔伦 行路难 出门行路难，富贵安可期。 淮阴不免恶少辱，阮生亦作穷途悲。 颠倒英雄古来有，封侯却属屠沽儿。 长安车马随轻肥，青云宾从纷交驰。 白眼向人多意气，宰牛烹羊如折葵。 宴乐宁知白日短，时时醉拥双蛾眉。 扬雄闭门空读书，门前碧草春离离。 不如拂衣且归去，世上浮名徒尔为。
This is a real classic of the Hard Road to Walk genre. There is nothing here other than the poet’s deep certainty that he is in the moral right, and everyone else is a faker. It’s the kind of thing that makes you wish social media had been around. Dai Shulun would have fitted right in.
Han Xin was a hero of the early Han Dynasty, famously the subject of derision in his hometown of Huaiyin before he achieved success at the new emperor’s side.
Ruan Ji was a noted scholar poet from about 500 years before Dai’s time. But Ruan never won himself a high position. In his age of disunity, there was no-one worth serving.
Meat vendors rerpresented the lowest classes.
Okra: The same plant (or close relative) as the modern okra plant, but Tang diners ate the leaves, not the fruit.
Yang Xiong: A poet and politician from the Western Han Dynasty.