Here's a spring poem from one of my favorites, Wang Wei, celebrating the exhilaration we begin to feel, after a few hours of back-breaking toil, as we begin to clear the fields and lay the groundwork for a new season of growth.
Up on the rooftop in
springtime
The turtledoves
cry
Alongside the
village
The apricot trees
shimmer
In their curly
white tresses
Swinging a small
hatchet to clear
Away the
proliferating weeds
Wielding a hoe to
muck out
The clogged arteries
of the spring
Each year the
sparrows return
Knowing well
their former nest
So an old man
apprises
The tasks of the
new year
Like facing a
banquet
It’s impossible
to resist such a feast
There’s no
prospect of sadness
Even for the
weariest guest
春中田园作
王维
屋上春鸠鸣
村边杏花白
持斧伐远扬
荷锄觇泉脉
归燕识故巢
旧人看新历
临觞忽不御
惆怅远行客
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