A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems/The Scholar Recruit

by Arthur Waley

THE SCHOLAR RECRUIT

By Pao Chao [died A. D. 466]

Now late
I follow Time's Necessity:^[1]
Mounting a barricade I pacify remote tribes.
Discarding my sash I don a coat of rhinoceros-skin:
Rolling up my skirts I shoulder a black bow.
Even at the very start my strength fails:
What will become of me before it's all over?

 

1. I.e., "enlist."