Yuan Dynasty
山坡羊（三）
Shān pō yáng · Qí sān
Lín quán gāo pān, jī yán pín guò, guān qiú shēn lǜ jiē cān pò.
Fù rú hé? Guì rú hé? Xián zhōng zì yǒu xián zhōng lè, tiān dì yì hú kuān yòu kuò!
Dōng, yě zài wǒ; xī, yě zài wǒ.
Translation
I reach toward the life of woods and springs, live through poverty with coarse food and salt, and see through office, bondage, body, and care. What of wealth? What of rank? In leisure there is the joy of leisure. Heaven and earth open wide like a single wine flask. East is mine to choose; west is mine as well.
Analysis
This poem turns poverty into freedom. The contrast between official life and woodland simplicity is stark: office is described almost as imprisonment. Yet the poem is not bitter. Its central image, “heaven and earth in one flask,” makes leisure expansive and inwardly rich. The final line affirms autonomy: direction no longer belongs to rank or duty, but to the self.
About the Author
Chen Cao’an often writes in a direct, almost proverbial manner. His sanqu compresses social experience into brief moral reflections on office, poverty, blame, and withdrawal.