Book IV. The Decade of Ch‘i Fu: III. Huang Niao

III The Huang Niao; metaphorical. Some officer, who had withdrawn to another state, finds his expectations of the people there disappointed, and proposes to return to the royal domain. 1Thou yellow-plumaged bird, O spare The paper shrubs and fields of grain! For me these people show no care;— I long for kin and home again. That we judged ill, when we came here, Does from their cold neglect appear. 2The mulberry trees and fields of maize, Thou yellow-plumaged bird, eschew! These people are a dullard race; I long my brethren's face to view. That we judged ill, when we came here, Does from their cold neglect appear. 3Thou yellow-plumaged bird, O fly Those oak trees, nor the millet eat! From this bad land I back must hie;— I long my father's kin to greet. That we judged ill, when we came here, Does from their cold neglect appear.