The book of odes and hymns – part 21

XIAO XING

Small are those starlets,

Three or five of them in the east,

Swiftly by night we go;

In the early dawn we are with the prince.

Our lot is not like hers.

Small are those starlets,

And there are Orion and the Pleiades.

Swiftly by night we go,

Carrying our coverlets and sheets.

Our lot is not like hers.

xiǎo xīng

小星

huì bǐ xiǎo xīng 、sān wǔ zài dōng 。

嘒彼小星、三五在東。

sù sù xiāo zhēng 、sù yè zài gōng 、shí mìng bù tóng 。

肅肅宵征、夙夜在公、寔命不同。

huì bǐ xiǎo xīng 、 wéi cān yǔ mǎo 。

嘒彼小星、 維參與昴。

sù sù xiāo zhēng 、bào qīn yǔ dāo 、shí mìng bù yóu 。

肅肅宵征、抱衾與裯、寔命不猶。