A Pheasant on His Morning Flight
Hsiao Kang (503–551)
The dawning sun shines upon the royal wheat fields,
A spring fowl crosses the deserted plain;
At times raising his plumicorns to elude the falcon,
He suddenly wheels aslant to spite the mounds.
Young men serve on distant campaigns,
Resentful, their thoughts brim with rebellion;
Better follow after a profligate courtier,
Whose silken sleeves brush the robes of ministers.
Translated by Victor H. Mair and Tsu-Lin Mei
The author was both crown prince and center of a flourishing literary salon in the Eastern Palace of the Liang royal establishment. The efforts of the circle of poets around him resulted in the development of a palace-style poetry (see selection 24). Hsiao Kang was quite likely the sponsor of the epochal collection of love poetry entitled New Songs from Jade Terrace (compiled c. 545 by the court poet Hsü Ling) that enshrined this style of verse. His own brother, Hsiao T’ung, was the editor of the famous Literary Selections (Wen-hsüan, see selection 12), the seminal anthology of traditional Chinese prose and verse that was intended to stand in opposition to the current literary fashion as exemplified by New Songs from Jade Terrace (Yü-t’ai hsin-yung). Curiously, however, the Jade Terrace collection is also noted for its preservation of a number of earlier popular songs and ballads (see, for example, selections 132–135).