Chu Tun-ju (1080?–1175?)
Old age has come and I am glad;
I’ve experienced what the world holds
And know too well the way things are,
Have seen through the shams.
The sea of sorrow, the mount of pain,
All shattered in a trice.
No longer misled by flowers
Or led into trouble by wine,
I know all the scores now.
When full I look to take a nap;
Awake again, I play the role called for.
Don’t talk of time a-passing!
In this old man’s heart
Is no wish to meddle much in affairs.
I don’t try to become a Taoist immortal
Or flatter the Buddha
Or imitate the busy Confucius.
I have no wish to compete with worthy men;
Let them laugh—
This is just the way I am.
When the play is over,
I will leave my costume for the dumb actors.
Translated by James Robert Hightower
A reclusive poet and painter of the Southern Sung period, Chu Tun-ju was born into a family of bureaucrats from Loyang. He attained the rank of Presented Scholar in 1135 but declined several appointments offered to him. He settled in Canton after the Jürchen took control of the north of China and established the Chin dynasty, displacing the Sung to the south. Chu Tun-ju’s works are filled with nature imagery and nostalgia for the north.