Ninth century
They laugh at me, “Hey farm boy!
Skinny head, your hat’s not tall enough
and your belt goes around you twice!”
It’s not that I don’t know what’s in . . .
If you don’t have the cash, forget it.
But someday I’ll get rich for sure,
and then I’ll wear a big, tall
Buddhist gravestone on my head.
Translated from the Chinese by J. P. Seaton.