Tuesday 12 April 2011

Blaming Sons

Today TEPCO finally admitted that the situation at Fukushima is at the level of a Chernobyl. Well, many of us had already figured that for ourselves. What TEPCO must really be saying is: It is worse than Chernobyl.

Here's another delightful Chinese poem. The poet finds an excuse for his own drunkenness.

Blaming Sons

White hairs cover my temples,
I am wrinkled and gnarled beyond repair,
And though I have got five sons,
They all hate paper and brush.
A-shu is eighteen:
For laziness there is none like him.
A-hsüan does his best,
But really loathes the fine arts.
Yung and Tuan are thirteen,
But do not know six from seven.
T'ung-tzu in his ninth year
Is only concerned with things to eat.
If heaven treats me like this,
What can I do but fill my cup?
______
T'ao Ch'ien (372-427) trans: A Waley

2 comments:

  1. Oh dear Gwilym - it seems that people moan about their children all over the world!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Pat, I wonder which son will take after his father the poet? The lazy one, I expect :), since he only seems lazy because he is in deep thought!!!

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