Wiping the Dust at the Five-Hundred-Stone Grotto Heaven, Vol. 5

The following lines are written in vertical columns. Small-character interlinear glosses are included.

I am unwilling to write a single word that falls behind the ancients of the Jin and Wei dynasties. Editor's note: This refers to what Master Yuan Suiyuan mocked as the behavior of the nouveau riche who display gold screens at their front gates.
In the end, the intention and interest are listless, the spirit does not belong, and the pages are filled with noisy annoyance. The two remarks above are found in the "Examples of Principles" original: "Li Yan" of the printed Sea of Poetry of Guangdong original: "Yuedong Shihai". It can be said that [the author] does not drift with the common tide.

At the beginning of summer, a Japanese man named Nagai Soseki Wanren sent me poems from the Taiwan Hsinchu Administrative Office. He asked for my correction, briefly stating that while in Taiwan, he saw the solicitation for poems in the Tiannan News and thus made this gesture. I appreciate his sincerity.

From the poems he sent, I recorded two seven-character quatrains. One is titled "Carrying the Dream of the Sun" original: "Dai Meng Ri Cheng", which says: "Facing the mirror to tease the flowers, the flowers seem ready to speak; approaching the stream to welcome the moon, the moon returns. The person dwells in the myriad subtleties of the great universe; everywhere the moonlight and flowers are blooming." Another, "Chanting about the Taiwan Savages" original: "Yong Taiwan Shengfan Ren", says: "The nests and caves still retain the air of the primordial age; for four thousand years they have been untouched by the great chaos. Their joy in wine and birds is entirely a matter of leisure; the first achievement is to obtain a person’s head." This refers to the practice of headhunting.

I soon replied with two poems in the style of my own three works printed in the Dingyou year. His response poems said: "Searching afar for works from the Nine Provinces; a fresh appearance is opened by you today. You have understood the essence of the 'clear' character of heaven and earth; ordinary powders and cheap rouge retreat at once." The postscript to his poems even praises me as a "teacher of the age," which is too much to record. I am ashamed of the empty reputation spread across the sea. For several years, I have not lacked deep affection from those I have befriended, but they were all people I had met...