孟郊

游子吟

慈母手中线， 游子身上衣；

临行密密缝， 意恐迟迟归。

谁言寸草心， 报得三春辉？

Folk-song-styled-verse

Meng Jiao

A TRAVELLER'S SONG

The thread in the hands of a fond-hearted mother

Makes clothes for the body of her wayward boy；

Carefully she sews and thoroughly she mends,

Dreading the delays that will keep him late from home.

But how much love has the inch-long grass

For three spring months of the light of the sun？