「耳顺吟，寄敦诗、梦得」白居易

三十四十五欲牵，七十八十百病缠。五十六十却不恶，

恬淡清净心安然。已过爱贪声利后，犹在病羸昏耄前。

未无筋力寻山水，尚有心情听管弦。闲开新酒尝数醆，

醉忆旧诗吟一篇。敦诗梦得且相劝，不用嫌他耳顺年。

ON BEING SIXTY 

Addressed to Liu Meng-te, who had asked for a poem. He was the same age as Po Chü-i. 

Between thirty and forty, one is distracted by the Five Lusts ; 

Between seventy and eighty, one is a prey to a hundred diseases. 

But from fifty to sixty one is free from all ills ; 

Calm and still — the heart enjoys rest. 

I have put behind me Love and Greed ; I have done with Profit and Fame ; 

I am still short of illness and decay and far from decrepit age. 

Strength of limb I still possess to seek the rivers and hills; 

Still my heart has spirit enough to listen to flutes and string's. 

At leisure I open new wine and taste several cups ; 

Drunken I recall old poems and sing a whole volume. 

Meng-te has asked for a poem and herewith I exhort him 

Not to complain of three-score, "the time of obedient ears."' 

1 Confucius said that it was not till sixty that "his ears obeyed 

him." This age was therefore called " the time of obedient ears."