Weng Shou's walk is hard because

life's always been hard

A Hard Road to Walk
Weng Shou

The road is hard to walk;
I cannot sing any more.
Old friends win money, fame;
I’m stuck here marking time.
On Mount Tong, my slow wheels
Grind snowdrifts as night falls.
On southern waves roiling,
I’m a mote adrift in spring.
The battlegrounds of life,
This way since ancient times,
But what can I expect
Now my way is lost?
The minister Zhai Fangjin,
Lord of the Western Han,
He went from Phoenix Pool
To netted fowl
In just one day.

翁绶  行路难
行路艰难不复歌，故人荣达我蹉跎。
双轮晚上铜梁雪，一叶春浮瘴海波。
自古要津皆若此，方今失路欲如何。
君看西汉翟丞相，凤沼朝辞暮雀罗。

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And may it please Weng to know that a thousand years later, life continues to be hard: I was laid low by a mighty virus that felt like Covid, though our home test strips claim it wasn’t. Anyway, on the mend now, so back on with the poetry!

Weng Shou (fl. 870s) lived right at the end of the Tang Dynasty. Even though the Hard Road to Walk was a much-historied theme by this time, he has a very simple and direct take on this title. He simply says his life is hard.

Mount Tong: A high and notoriously difficult mountain in Sichuan.

Zhai Fangjin: A Han prime minister. In 7BCE, the planet Mars was in the Heart Mansion (part of the the constellation Scorpio), and the Han people complained to their lord. Unexpectedly, the emperor decided to turn around and blame everything on his longstanding favourite and prime minister, Zhai. Zhai committed suicide.

Phoenix Pool: A legendary place where mythic birds hang out. Also, the royal court.