December 15, 2023

Friday Doggerel: Yang Jingxian - "The Flea"

Oh right, I was saying something about shorter and more frequent updates

A bit of doggerel for your weekend, courtesy of the late-Yuan poet and playwright Yang Jingxian 楊景賢:

小則小，偏能走跳，
咬一口一似針挑，
領兒上走到褲兒腰。
眼睜睜拿不住，身材兒怎生撈？
翻個筋鬥不見了。

Small as can be,
The minuscule flea
Can nimbly dance
(With a needle-sharp bite)
From the nape of the neck
To the waist of the pants.
Stare as you may,
Glare as you might,
It’ll give you the slip —
Just a hop and a flip
And it’s vanished from sight.

I’m planning to take a break from literary cats with a few favorite Yuan-dynasty poems next week — you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll gain a clearer appreciation of the utter insignificance of man in light of eternity. It’ll be fun.