王维

　　西施咏

　　艳色天下重， 西施宁久微？

　　朝为越溪女， 暮作吴宫妃。

　　贱日岂殊众？ 贵来方悟稀。

　　邀人傅脂粉， 不自著罗衣，

　　君宠益娇态， 君怜无是非。

　　当时浣纱伴， 莫得同车归。

　　持谢邻家子， 效颦安可希？

　　Five-character-quatrain

　　Wang Wei

　　THE BEAUTIFUL XI SHI

　　Since beauty is honoured all over the Empire,

　　How could Xi Shi remain humbly¹ at home？ ——

　　Washing clothes at dawn by a southern lake ——

　　And that evening a great lady in a palace of the north：

　　Lowly one day, no different from the others,

　　The next day exalted², everyone praising her.

　　No more would her own hands powder her face

　　Or arrange on her shoulders a silken robe.

　　And the more the King loved her, the lovelier she looked,

　　Blinding him away from wisdom.

　　……Girls who had once washed silk beside her

　　Were kept at a distance from her chariot.

　　And none of the girls in her neighbours' houses

　　By pursing their brows could copy her beauty.