SECOND DEDICATION
Xu Yinping ([style name] Deshu),
Scholar of Broad Learning
The raging waves drenched his worn-out clothes,
Even through nine deaths he would not forget to care for his parent.
His heart like a furled flower, his body like the leaves,
Preserved by heaven to proclaim parental love.
At Thới Cần estuary he was interrogated and submitted the copper tray,
A lone sojourner sailing ten thousand miles.
The elders of old Yuechang were extremely pleased;
diligent students came to visit the Han-clothed gentleman.
Su [Dongpo] spoke softly within the winding peaks, entreating the bound Hundred Yue to return.
Gathering the herb of heaven and earth to fill his sleeves, how many people pass the Ghost Gate in their lives?
He readily wielded the brush, matching verses, like Xiangshan’s [Bai Juyi] fame that reached Rooster Forest [Silla].1
And now he [Cai Tinglan] does not write of banalities [as with Bai Juyi’s poems]; one piece of new poetry is worth a piece of gold.