The commonplace I sing;
How cheap is health! how cheap nobility!
Abstinence, no falsehood, no gluttony, lust;
The open air I sing, freedom, toleration,
(Take here the mainest lesson--less from books--less from the schools,)
The common day and night--the common earth and waters,
Your farm--your work, trade, occupation,
The democratic wisdom underneath, like solid ground for all.

The Common Cormorant or shag
Lays eggs inside a paper bag.
The reason you will see no doubt
It is to keep the lightning out.
But what these unobservant birds
Have never noticed is that herds
Of wandering bears may come with buns
And steal the bags to hold the crumbs.

Coming and going, no fixed lodging,
over rivers and seas, wherever wind and mist take me.
Nights I stay in a temple among the peaks,
mornings make for the Mao Lake boat.
Green hills — and as I turn my head,
white birds in front of the sail winging away.
Ten years a traveler in a foreign land —
wordless, I stand lost in thought.

Her work was to count linings —
the day's seconds in dozens.

Come, let's to bed,
Says Sleepy-head;
Sit up awhile, says Slow;
Hang on the pot,
Says Greedy-gut,
Let's sup before we go.

Come in the garden
And play in the snow,
A snowman we'll make,
See how quickly he'll grow!
Give him hat, stick, and pipe,
And make him look gay,
Such a fine game
For a cold winter day!

The Shortest and Sweetest of Songs
Come
home.

Come forth, old lion, from thy den,
Come, be the gaze of idle men,
Old lion, shake thy mane and growl,
Or they will take thee for an owl.

Cloud-capped peaks fill the eyes
In the spring sunshine.
Their names are written in beautiful characters
And posted in order of merit.
How I hate this silk dress
That conceals a poet.
I lift my head and read their names
In powerless envy.

Cloud and water, lonely, desolate:
where now is the flute's voice coming from?
Sighing, sighing—full of autumn thoughts;
unawares come feelings of separation.
Chilly moonlight on water by the tower;
west wind in the city on the river.
What need now to hear the Wu-ch'i Song
with its bitter resentment at southern journeys?