燕燕于飛、差池其羽。 之子于歸、遠送于野。 瞻望弗及、泣涕如雨。

燕燕于飛、頡之頏之。 之子于歸、遠于將之。 瞻望弗及、佇立以泣。

燕燕于飛、下上其音。 之子于歸、遠送于南。 瞻望弗及、實勞我心。

仲氏任只、其心塞淵。 終溫且惠、淑慎其身。 先君之思、以勗(xù)寡人。

The swallows go flying about, With their wings unevenly displayed.  The lady was returning [to her native state], And I escorted her far into the country.  I looked till I could no longer see her, And my tears fell down like rain.

The swallows go flying about, Now up, now down.  The lady was returning [to her native state], And far did I accompany her.  I looked till I could no longer see her, And long I stood and wept.

The swallows go flying about; From below, from above, comes their twittering.  The lady was returning [to her native state], And far did I escort her to the south.  I looked till I could no longer see her, And great was the grief of my heart.

Lovingly confiding was lady Zhong; Truly deep was her feeling.  Both gentle was she and docile, Virtuously careful of her person.  In thinking of our deceased lord, She stimulated worthless me. 

Ode 3. Narrative and allusive. Chwang Keang relates her grief at the departure of Tae Kwei, and celebrates that lady's virtue.

It has been related on the last ode, how Tae Kwei bore Hwang to duke Chwang of Wei; and how he was brought up by Chwang Keang and finally succeeded to his father. In B. C. 718, he -- duke Huan, 恒公 -- was murdered by his half-brother Chow-yu, and his mother then returned -- was obliged, probably, to return -- to her native State of Ch'in. Chwang Keang continued in Wei, the marchioness-dowager; and she is understood to bewail, in this piece, her sorrow at the departure of her cherished and virtuous companion.

Stt. 1, 2, 3. L1. 1, 2. 燕 is still the common name in China for the swallow. Maou and Choo take the reduplication of the character here as still singular; -- after the Urh-ya. It seems more natural, however, to take it as plural. So Yen Ts'an, and others. The figure of the creature in illustrations of the She is that of the Hirundo daurieus. Synonyms of 燕 are 鳦 and 玄鳥. 差(read as in i.I)池 = 'the app. of being uneven.' To the spectator, the wings of the swallow, in its rapid and irregular flight, often present this appearance. 頡頏 (al. with 羽 on the right) denote the appearance of the birds in flying, their darting upwards being specially signified by the former character, and their sudden turns downwards by the latter. So says Maou, 飛而上曰頡, 飛而下曰頏。Wang T'aou, however, calls attention to an argument of Twan Yuh-tsae, that 上 and 下 should here change places. '頡,' he says, 'takes its meaning from 頁, = 頭, "the head," and 頏 its meaning from 亢 = 頸, "the neck." When a bird is flying downwards, we see its head; when it is rising in the air, we see its neck. And moreover, that it is the downward flight which is first described appears from the 下上 of the next stanza.' It is not worth while to try and settle the point. The migratory habits of the swallow, probably, lie at the basis of the allusion. Chwang Keang and Tae Kwei had been happy together as two swallows, and now one of them was off to the south, and the other was left alone.

L1. 3,4. 歸 is here 'the great return (大歸)'; not the visit of a wife to see her parents, but her return for good to her native State. 之子, -- 子 here is 'a lady,' one who was a widow. In 于歸, 于將, 于 is the particle. 將 = 送, 'to escort.' Ch'in lay south from Wei, and therefore we have 于南.

L1.5.6. We must take 泣 and 涕 together as ='to weep'; though 泣 is defined as 'the emission of tears without any sound.' 佇 = 久, 'a long time.'

St.4. By 仲氏, 'the lady Chung,' we are to understand Tae Kwei. She was called 仲, as the 2d of sisters or of cousins, to distinguish her in the family and the harem; and the designation becomes here equivalent to a surname. 只 occurred before, an untranslatable particle, in i.IV., in the middle of a line; here it is at the end. We find it with 尺 and 車 at the side, used in the same way, and also interchanged with 旨. 仁 has the meaning in the translation. One definition of it is -- 信于友道, 'sincere in the ways of friendship.' 塞 = 實, 'really.' Throughout the She, 終, followed by 且 is merely = 既, and may be translated by 'both.' We must not give it the sense of 'ever.' By 先君 is intended duke Chwang. Considering all the evils which he had brought on the two ladies, it is matter of astonishment that they should be able to think of him with any feeling but that of detestation. But, according to Chinese ideas, though the husband have failed in every duty, the wife must still cherish his memory with affection.

The rhymes are -- in st. 1, 羽, 野*, 雨; in 2, 頏, 將; 及, 泣; in 3, 音, 南; 心; in 4, 淵, 身, 人.