In my family there are two famous paintings
which we have treasured and taken everywhere with us.
But one morning, we found ourselves without a thing to eat
so I took out the pictures to barter for grain.
It's not that these masterpieces were not precious to me
but the pangs of hunger are hard to bear!
If I lived alone, I could manage,
but a family of eight! — what else could I do?
History tells of a young man
who exchanged a horse for a beautiful woman.
But in saving people from a calamity like fire
how can you think only of pleasing yourself?
I remembered a man I knew, rich as the millionaire of I-shih,
but now he too had nothing to spare.
He wrote me a letter telling me —
he was ashamed to say it, and felt many regrets,
but the present and the past are two different things:
how could he collect such treasures anymore?
He hoped I would understand his situation;
prosperity and decline indeed depend on fate.
So I poured out some wine to console myself,
to drive away my sadness and disappointment.
I unrolled the paintings and hung them on the bare walls
trying to forget my hunger as I gazed at them.