The Grain Tribute Poem by Bai Juyi
there came an officer knocking by night at my door
in a loud voice demanding grain tribute my house servants dared not wait till
the morning but brought candles and set them on the
barn floor passed through the sieve clean washed as pearls
a whole cart load 30 bushels of grain but still they cry that it is not paid
in full with whips and curses they goad my
servants and boys once in error i entered public
life i am inwardly ashamed that my talents
were not sufficient in succession i occupied four official
posts for doing nothing 10 years salary
often have i heard that saying of ancient men
that good and ill follow in an endless chain
and today it ought to set my heart at rest
to return to others the corn in my great barn