Beneath cassia mist and paulownia shade we raise our cups;
In Chang'an, watering mouths await the Double Ninth.
Before your eyes the roads have neither warp nor weft;
Beneath your shell, the seasons' judgments are but empty black and yellow.
Wine cannot mask the rankness—chrysanthemum is needed;
To guard against the cold within—ginger is required.
Now that you've fallen into the pot, what good are you?
By the moonlit shore, only the scent of grain remains.
English titles, text, and notes are AI-assisted for reading only; for scholarship cite the Chinese and authoritative editions.
Annotation
Written after the crab feast in Chapter 38. While ostensibly about crabs, the poem satirizes people. 'Roads with neither warp nor weft' mocks those who swagger sideways (like crabs); 'judgments beneath the shell are empty' satirizes hypocrites. Everyone praised this as the definitive crab poem.
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