釋鑑稽古略續集 1.40

1.40

Wen Wenshan, a native of Gusu, was named Tianxiang. He was the senior first-rank graduate and prime minister of the Song, enfieffed as the Duke of Xin State. He possessed great integrity of loyalty and filial piety. Captured, he witnessed the events at Yashan with his own eyes and wrote a poem in mourning (not recorded here). He also sang:

'A typhoon rises, alas! and ocean waters fly!
Civilians and warriors all are gone, alas! the Fire Virtue has waned!
Hawks and falcons clash with each other, alas! nowhere to turn!
The great swan wishes to take flight, alas! whither will it return?
Rowing songs in the midstream, alas! drifting as they may!
Alone upholding the Spring and Autumn Annals, alas! no one understands me!'

His 'Song of Righteous Qi' also says:

'Between Heaven and Earth there is righteous qi,
which, manifoldly mingled, is bestowed upon flowing forms.'

At the end it says:

'Looking upon those luminous ones who endure,
I raise my eyes to the white drifting clouds.
Far and wide my heart grieves;
how could the blue heavens have an end?
The wise men are daily further removed;
their model and standard remain in days of old.
Beneath the wind-blown eaves I unroll the book and read;
the ancient way illumines my countenance.'

His poem 'Lingding Ocean' reads:

'Through bitter hardship I met my destiny, rising by a single classic;
Amid clashing weapons, four starry years have drifted by.
The mountains and rivers are shattered like catkins afloat on water;
My life drifts and sinks like duckweed struck by the wind.
At Huangkong Beach I spoke of dread;
In Lingding Ocean I sigh over my solitude.
From antiquity, who in human life has been free from death?
Let me leave a loyal heart to shine upon the sweat-dried bamboo.'

Passing by the thatched lodges and detached palace of Jinling, he wrote:

'The evening sun turns its light; where can the solitary drifting cloud rely?
The scenery of mountains and rivers was originally no different,
Yet half of the walled city and its people are no longer the same.
Reeds blossoming across the ground age along with me;
Beside whom do the swallows of the old homes now fly?
From now on parting from the roads of Jiangnan,
I shall transform into a weeping cuckoo and return stained with blood.'

Later, when facing his end, he composedly said to the officials and soldiers, 'My task is finished.' He bowed toward the south and died at the age of forty-seven. In his sash was an inscription that said: 'Confucius spoke of achieving benevolence; Mencius spoke of gathering righteousness. Only when righteousness is exhausted is benevolence attained. Reading the books of the sages and worthies, what else did one study? From this day forward, I may perhaps have nothing to be ashamed of.' Throughout his life, when composing writing, he never drafted them first. He had the Zhinan ji (Guide Collection), the Yinxiao ji (Chanting and Whistling Collection), and his compilation of one hundred poems of Du Fu, which circulate in the world. The Astronomical Bureau was established in the Great Capital. The Hall of Peace and Joy was erected: those who were sick were treated with medicine; those who were hungry were given grain from granaries; those who died were buried.