Li Shangyin sarcastically attacks...

...an insect

Cicada by Chen Zhifu (20th century)

The Cicada

Li Shangyin

.

So elevated you can’t get enough to eat

And all the effort that goes into your chirr

Is wasted

In the darkest hour of the night, your voice faltered and failed

In a green tree as callous

As jade

.

This functionary is little better than flotsam

The orchards where I grew up returned

To wasteland

For the reminder to be elevated

And to keep my family elevated, too

Thank you

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The cicada was a symbol of purity, because it was said to consume nothing but the dew and the air. Here Li Shangyin (813-858) uses it as the central image for a complaint poem about the difficulty of finding a good job and making a living.

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李商隐  蝉

本以高难饱，徒劳恨费声。

五更疏欲断，一树碧无情。

薄宦梗犹泛，故园芜已平。

烦君最相警，我亦举家清。