{"collection":"cfu","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/cfu/bop/bop219.htm","path":"cfu/bop/bop219.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/cfu/bop/bop219.htm","text":"The Book of Poetry, tr. by James Legge, [1876]\n2The wintry heavens, one arch of clouds,\n \u00a0\u00a0Send down the flakes that fill the sky.\n Then come the drizzling rains of spring,\n \u00a0\u00a0That moisture, with the snow, supply,\n To soak and fit the ground for use,\n And in its season grain produce.\n3The plots, arranged in order fit,\n \u00a0\u00a0The millets in abundance bear. p. 288\n So shall our lord the harvest view;\n \u00a0\u00a0While food and spirits we prepare,\n For those in whom our sires descend,\n And guests who at the feast attend.\n4The central plot the huts contains,\n \u00a0\u00a0While gourds each path and boundary line.\n Their fruits preserved, aside we put,\n \u00a0\u00a0Till \u2019mong the offerings they shall shine.\n So through his sires our lord shall gain\n Long life, and gifts from Heaven obtain.\n5The fragrant spirits first are poured;\n \u00a0\u00a0Then near the gate the bull is led;\u2014\n So we invite our sires to come.\n \u00a0\u00a0To show the victim pure and red,\n The knife with bells slides through the hair.\n Its blood and fat away we bear.\n6'Then all our offerings we present,\n \u00a0\u00a0Diffusing round a fragrance great.\n How brilliant is the sacrifice!\n \u00a0\u00a0Our ancestors in kingly state\n Are there, unseen; but they shall send\n Blessing and life,\u2014years without end!","title":"The Book of Poetry: Book VI. The Decade of Pei Shan: VI. Hsin Nan Shan","type":"page"}