临终诗
言多令事败，
器漏苦不密。
河溃蚁孔端，
山坏由猿穴。
涓涓江汉流，
天窗通冥室。
谗邪害公正，
浮云翳白日。
靡辞无忠诚，
华繁竟不实。
人有两三心，
安能合为一？
三人成市虎，
浸渍解胶漆。
生存多所虑，
长寝万事毕。
Confronting the End1
Too much talking makes one’s efforts fail,
the container leaks and is never tight.
A river’s collapse begins with ant-holes,
a mountain’s crumbling caused by monkey-caves.
The Yangtze and the Han are now small trickles,
the sky’s light fails to shine into the darkest room.
Slanders damage fairness and justice,
floating clouds block sunshine.
Extravagant words are never honest and true,
and a colorful facade has no substance.
People have different hearts and minds,
how can anyone hold them together?
Three men’s words can make “a tiger in the town,”2
with time, soaking dissolves the strongest glue.
To live this life is to be f illed with worries,
the myriad affairs end only in long sleep.
1 This piece was written before his execution. 此诗为孔融临刑前所作。
2 This refers to a passage in Zhan’guo ce or Stratagems of the Warring States. A man named Pang Cong tried to warn the King of Wei not to heed other people’s rumors and slanders about him, so he asked the King whether or not he would believe it if one person claimed that he saw a tiger in the town. The King said he would not. Pang then asked him whether or not he would believe it if there were a second person making the same claim, and the King said he would not. But when Pang asked the King whether or not he would believe it if a third person came to him with the same story, he said he would believe it. 此行引用《战国策·魏策》中的典故：“市之无虎明矣，然三人言而成虎。”