Chinese poem illustration: 小雅 伐木/ Xiaoya – Lumbering by Anonymous

小雅 伐木

Full video also available at Bilibili: 小雅 伐木

Ya(雅) could be the term that Zhou people calls their language, the Zhou accent, anyhow nobody is sure about that. The difference between Daya(大雅) and Xiaoya(小雅) are normally considered as the early poems of Zhou and later poems in Spring and Autumn period(春秋), yet a new hypothesis is put forward in this video per my own understanding.

The poem is about a royal dinner, a grand and happy drinking party. The poet wrote down how he was planning, preparing and holding the party successfully with talented writing, it turns out that the poet is very likely one of the princes. The poem could be cross checked with Xiaoya Deer Sings(小雅 鹿鸣) which describes a grand party as well, might be the same or a similar event.

湑(有酒湑我) is interpreted as bottom up, the original meaning is all, everything, It could also be interpreted as pouring the wine fully or a full cup of wine.

小雅 伐木
佚名

伐木丁丁,鸟鸣嘤嘤。
出自幽谷,迁于乔木。
嘤其鸣矣,求其友声。


相彼鸟矣,犹求友声。
矧伊人矣,不求友生?
神之听之,终和且平。

伐木许许,酾酒有藇!
既有肥羜,以速诸父。
宁适不来,微我弗顾。


於粲洒扫,陈馈八簋。
既有肥牡,以速诸舅。
宁适不来,微我有咎。

伐木于阪,酾酒有衍。
笾豆有践,兄弟无远。
民之失德,乾餱以愆。


有酒湑我,无酒酤我。
坎坎鼓我,蹲蹲舞我。
迨我暇矣,饮此湑矣。

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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