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Zá ShīMiscellaneous Poem 杂诗

Tao Yuanming (陶渊明, also known as Tao Qian)｜Eastern Jin｜five-character regulated verse

Tao Yuanming: "the prime of life does not come twice", so work while you can.

Original Chinese text with pinyin

盛年不重来
shèng nián bù zhòng lái

一日难再晨
yī rì nán zài chén

及时当勉励
jí shí dāng miǎn lì

岁月不待人
suì yuè bù dài rén

Simplified characters; traditional title: 雜詩. This is a long poem; only the best-known lines are shown, and “……” marks omitted passages.

Note on the text: This page presents a well-known excerpt; the full poem is longer in the traditional corpus.

The prime of life never comes twice;

a day cannot have two mornings.

While there is time, make the most of it —

the years wait for no one.

Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.

盛年不重来 · shèng nián bù zhòng lái — The prime of life never comes twice;

一日难再晨 · yī rì nán zài chén — a day cannot have two mornings.

及时当勉励 · jí shí dāng miǎn lì — While there is time, make the most of it —

岁月不待人 · suì yuè bù dài rén — the years wait for no one.

Tao Yuanming: "the prime of life does not come twice", so work while you can. The scene stays with you.

Tao Yuanming: "the prime of life does not come twice", so work while you can.

Tao Yuanming resigned office to farm; his garden poems made him the ancestor of pastoral verse.

Lifetime: 365?–427. Other famous works: Drinking Wine, No. 5 (饮酒); Miscellaneous Poem (杂诗).