赵翼·《论诗·其五》英译

诗解穷人我未空，想因诗尚不曾工。

熊鱼自笑贪心甚，既要工诗又怕穷。

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On Poetry

Chao Yi

V

The best of poetry comes from the destitute, but my pocket is not yet empty;

I gather, it’s all because I haven’t perfected my skill as a poet.

Having fish to eat or bear’s paw? ¹ I admit, I’m greedy for both:

I yearn for skill in poetry, yet how I dread being poor!

1. Alluding to a famous parable in the Meng-tzu, in which Mencius points out that when two delicacies, fish and bears’ paw, are placed before a person and he can only have one of the two to eat he has to make a difficult choice.