Luo Binwang knows why the caged cicada sings

Layers of depth in symbolism

Song of the Cicada from a Chang'an Jail (poem and introduction)
Luo Binwang

To the west of my jail cell is the court, with its stand of mighty pagoda trees, green and full of life. The judges there attend to plaintiffs with an acumen to rival the great Duke Shao, cracking cases under the pear tree. And yet to me, what are these trees? They seem to me as they seemed to Yin Zhongwen: at the end of his life, he looked at healthy pagoda trees and saw only death and decay. 
In the cool sunlight of the evening, the noble cicada sings its sweet song, and yet it casts me into deep despair. How can the song of an autumn cicada produce such misery in a man? Its voice is inspiring, and the cicada is a paragon of virtue! As it grows, the moults it leaves behind present us with the image of immortals climbing mystic mountains. The cicada is master of the rhythms of time. It appears at the perfect moment, late in the year, and it moults in regular sequence, knowing when to act and when to withdraw, as all men should. Its wide eyes can always see clearly, no matter how dark the circumstances in which it finds itself; its wings hold it aloft, untainted by the vulgarity of this world. It stands elegantly, and sings with a heavenly voice of the soft breeze in the high branches. It drinks the dew of autumn; its purity is shocking.
I am lost and in peril, shackled and bound. I do not regret the injury so much as my own foolishness; how could I have sunk so low with so little cause? So when I hear the fluent song of the cicada, I think of my own statement submitted to the court. But when I see the predatory mantis stalking the cicada's shadow, I recall that grave danger that still haunts me. So I am recording this poem and will send it to my closest supporters. I hope that you will feel for me as you do for the tiny cicada, tossed on rough winds; I hope that you will understand my plight and pity my loneliness. Please forgive the unpolished writing; all it can do is to carry my fears and sorrow.

The sun walks in the west
(The autumn's coming in)
The dark cicada sings
(The autumn's coming in)
It sparked an autumn grief
(Captured by his foes)
In the Southland king
(He would escape his foes)
With hair still thick and dark
(My hair's still thick and dark)
It cannot be the time
(My hair's still thick and dark)
To sing Grey-haired Lament
(Of men unjustly wronged)
That last resentful rhyme
(For never-righted wrongs)
In heavy autumn dew
(That settled on my wings)
Cicada cannot fly
(Too heavy for my wings)
The autumn winds will drown
(They swirl around my name)
Its long melodic cry
(I cannot clear my name)
If no-one will believe
Cicada's purity
Who will speak for him?
Who will set him free?


骆宾王  在狱咏蝉（并序）

余禁所禁垣西，是法厅事也，有古槐数株焉。虽生意可知，同殷仲文之古树；而听讼斯在，即周召伯之甘棠，每至夕照低阴，秋蝉疏引，发声幽息，有切尝闻，岂人心异于曩时，将虫响悲于前听？嗟乎，声以动容，德以象贤。故洁其身也，禀君子达人之高行；蜕其皮也，有仙都羽化之灵姿。候时而来，顺阴阳之数； 应节为变，审藏用之机。有目斯开，不以道昏而昧其视；有翼自薄，不以俗厚而易其真。吟乔树之微风，韵姿天纵； 饮高秋之坠露，清畏人知。仆失路艰虞，遭时徽纆。不哀伤而自怨，未摇落而先衰。闻蟪蛄之流声，悟平反之已奏；见螳螂之抱影，怯危机之未安。感而缀诗，贻诸知己。庶情沿物应，哀弱羽之飘零； 道寄人知，悯余声之寂寞。非谓文墨，取代幽忧云尔。

西陆蝉声唱，南冠客思深。
不堪玄鬓影，来对白头吟。
露重飞难进，风多响易沉。
无人信高洁，谁为表予心。

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Luo Binwang (619-684?) was a venerable official caught up in the power struggles when the Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne. He sided against the empress, and was jailed, released, and ultimately executed.

The poem is packed with references, so the translation is much expanded to allow for explanations; this also helps to bring out the musical feel of the poem, because after that long prose exposition, it the verse must have been sung.

I think this poem works so well because it captures so perfectly the way one symbol contains its opposite. The beautiful, noble cicada usually inspires happiness; but to the jailed man, it is heartbreaking. Dew, the symbol of purity, can also drag down the cicada. This subtlety makes the