At gate and courtyard--no murmur of the World’s dust: In the empty rooms--leisure and deep stillness. Long I lived checked by the bars of a cage: Now I have turned again to Nature and Freedom.
Tao Yuanming
Where these words come from
- 95% sureThese words were traced back to where they first appeared. That source is listed below.
- Returning to the Fields; translated by Arthur Waley; Exact wording and attribution checked. Arthur Waley’s published 1918 English translation in A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems. Final four lines; World’s dust denotes worldly entanglement.
- Returning to the Fields; translated by Arthur Waley
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