P’i Jih-hsiu (c. 833–883)
I block out the midday brightness with a screen depicting dark woods,
burn a stick of heavy incense, nursing my hangover.
What’s this? As evening comes I’m ready for a drink again!
Beyond the wall I hear the cry of someone selling clams.
Translated by Burton Watson
P’i Jih-hsiu became a Presented Scholar in 867 but was a recluse before embarking upon an official career. Much of his early prose and poetry is concerned with social injustice (see, for example, selection 195) and advocates the moral philosophy of Mencius (see selection 7) and Han Yü (see selection 42). But during a sojourn in Soochow as a virtual guest of Lu Kuei-meng (?–c. 881, see selection 199), a fellow bard, he indulged himself in pleasure and the study of Taoism. He made a return to his early social commitment by joining a rebel group, but was executed by its leader for his forthright criticism.