早送举人入试

白居易【唐】

夙驾送举人，东方犹未明。自谓出太早，已有车马行。 

骑火高低影，街鼓参差声。可怜早朝者，相看意气生。 

日出尘埃飞，群动互营营。营营各何求，无非利与名。 

而我常晏起，虚住长安城。春深官又满，日有归山情。

[12] ESCORTING CANDIDATES TO THE EXAMINATION HALL

(A.D. 805)

At dawn I rode to escort the Doctors of Art;

In the eastern quarter the sky was still grey.

I said to myself, "You have started far too soon,"

But horses and coaches already thronged [fill or be present] the road.

High and low the riders' torches bobbed;

Muffled or loud, the watchman's drum beat.

Riders, when I see you prick

To your early levee [An embankment built to prevent the overflow of a river.], pity fills my heart.

When the sun rises and the hot dust flies

And the creatures of earth resume their great strife,

You, with your striving, what shall you each seek?

Profit and fame, for that is all your care.

But I, you courtiers, rise from my bed at noon

And live idly in the city of Ch‘ang-an.

Spring is deep and my term of office spent;

Day by day my thoughts go back to the hills.