"Since youth ...."

Since youth, the crowd’s pace did not suit me;

my first instinct was always to love the hills and mountains.

Mistakenly, I fell into the dusty net,

and was trapped for thirty years.

A caged bird misses the old forest,

a fish in a pond misses the old waters.

I’ll till the wasteland on the edge of the southern wilderness,

stay rustic, and return to my garden farm.

There are some ten acres around my house,

eight or nine other thatched rooms.

Elms and willows shade my back eaves,

peach and plum trees line the front.

I hardly see anyone; they’re so far away

I only know faint village smoke.

Dogs bark in deep lanes,

Roosters crow from the tops of mulberry trees.

No dust swirls into my door or house;

the empty rooms promise quiet leisure.

For too long, I was shut in a cage.

I only hope that my wishes won’t be thwarted.

Tao Yuanming