Sick Leave

More Translations from the Chinese, by Arthur Waley, [1919], at sacred-texts.com

p. 40

[14] SICK LEAVE

(While Secretary to the Deputy-Assistant-Magistrate of Chou-chih, near Ch‘ang-an, in A.D. 806)

Propped on pillows, not attending to business;
For two days I've lain behind locked doors.
I begin to think that those who hold office
Get no rest, except by falling ill!
For restful thoughts one does not need space;
The room where I lie is ten foot square.
By the western eaves, above the bamboo-twigs,
From my couch I see the White Mountain rise.
But the clouds that hover on its far-distant peak
Bring shame to a face that is buried in the World's dust.