Summoning the Soul

朕幼清以廉洁兮，身服义而未沫。

From my youth I was pure, incorrupt and unstained; I practised righteousness in my own person and never once slackened.

主此盛德兮，牵于俗而芜秽。

I held fast to this abundant virtue, yet the vulgar crowd dragged me down until it lay wasted and defiled like a weed-choked field.

上无所考此盛德兮，长离殃而愁苦。

The ruler above never examined this abundant virtue of mine, so I have long met with calamity and am left in grief and bitterness.

帝告巫阳曰：“有人在下，我欲辅之。魂魄离散，汝筮予之。”

The Heavenly Emperor told the shamaness Wu Yang: "There is a worthy man below, and I wish to help him. His hun and po souls have scattered; divine with the milfoil, find them and give them back to him."

巫阳对曰：“掌梦！上帝其难从。若必筮予之，恐后之谢，不能复用。”

Wu Yang replied: "This is the office of the Master of Dreams! Your command, Supreme Emperor, is hard to follow. If the soul must be found by divination before it is returned, I fear later ages will grow slack, the method will be abandoned, and it can never be used again."

巫阳焉乃下招曰：魂兮归来！去君之恒干，何为四方些？

So Wu Yang descended to summon the soul: "Soul, come back! You have left the body that was your constant home; why do you roam the four quarters?"

舍君之乐处，而离彼不祥些！魂兮归来！东方不可以讬些。

You have abandoned your joyful home in Chu and gone to meet those ill-omened lands! Soul, come back! In the east you cannot entrust your life.

长人千仞，惟魂是索些。

There live giants a thousand ren tall, who hunt for nothing but human souls to devour.

十日代出，流金铄石些。

Ten suns rise there in turn, so hot that metal runs and stone melts away.

彼皆习之，魂往必释些。

The people there are used to that heat, but a soul that goes there will surely be scorched and dissolve.

归来兮！不可以讬些。

Come back! The east is no place to entrust your life.

魂兮归来！南方不可以止些。

Soul, come back! The south, too, is no place to stay and settle.

雕题黑齿，得人肉以祀，以其骨为醢些。

The people there have carved and painted foreheads and teeth dyed black; when they get human flesh they offer it in sacrifice, and they pound the bones into meat paste.

蝮蛇蓁蓁，封狐千里些。

Venomous vipers lie heaped and coiled in masses, and giant foxes range a thousand li in search of food.

雄虺九首，往来倏忽，吞人以益其心些。

The male hui serpent has nine heads; it comes and goes in a flash, swallowing people to feed its venomous heart.

归来兮！不可久淫些。

Come back! You must not wander long in the south.

魂兮归来！西方之害，流沙千里些。

Soul, come back! The peril of the west is sand that drifts day and night across a thousand li.

旋入雷渊，爢散而不可止些。

You would be whirled into the Thunder Abyss, ground to pieces, and still unable to stop.

幸而得脱，其外旷宇些。

Even if by luck you escaped, beyond it lies only vast, uninhabited wilderness.

赤蚁若象，玄蜂若壶些。

There the red ants are as big as elephants, and the black wasps as big as dried gourds.

五谷不生，丛菅是食些。

The five grains will not grow; the people eat only brushwood and rushes growing in clumps.

其土烂人，求水无所得些。

The ground there burns the flesh, and if you seek water there is none to be found.

彷徉无所倚，广大无所极些。

Wandering to and fro you find no one to rely on, and the wilderness is so vast it has no end.

归来兮！恐自遗贼些。

Come back! I fear you will bring harm upon yourself.

魂兮归来！北方不可以止些。

Soul, come back! The north, too, is no place to stay and settle.

增冰峨峨，飞雪千里些。

Layer upon layer of hard ice towers like mountains, and gales drive the flying snow a thousand li.

归来兮！不可以久些。

Come back! The cold of the north kills; you cannot stay there long.

魂兮归来！君无上天些。

Soul, come back! Whatever you do, do not go up to heaven.

虎豹九关，啄害下人些。

Tigers and leopards guard the nine gates of heaven, biting and killing those who try to climb up from below.

一夫九首，拔木九千些。

There is a man with nine heads who can tear up nine thousand trees in a day.

豺狼从目，往来侁侁些。

Jackals and wolves with upright, slitted eyes prowl back and forth in rustling packs.

悬人以嬉，投之深渊些。

They hang people up for sport, then fling them down into the deep abyss.

致命于帝，然后得瞑些。

Only after reporting to the Heavenly Emperor do they go to their rest.

归来！往恐危身些。

Come back! To go there would put your body in peril.

魂兮归来！君无下此幽都些。

Soul, come back! Do not go down to Youdu, the dark capital that the Lord of Earth rules.

土伯九约，其角觺觺些。

Tubo, the Earth Lord of Youdu, has a body coiled in nine bends, and his horns are razor-sharp.

敦脄血拇，逐人伂駓駓些。

His back is thick, his thumbs are stained with blood, and he chases people at a furious pace.

参目虎首，其身若牛些。

He has three eyes and a tiger's head, and his body is as big as an ox.

此皆甘人，归来！恐自遗灾些。

All these monsters find human flesh delicious. Come back! I fear you will bring disaster on yourself.