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八思巴文 孟郊 遊子吟

慈母手中線，遊子身上衣。

臨行密密縫，意恐遲遲歸。

誰言寸草心，報得三春暉。

Mongolian Square Script (Phags-pa script)

A Traveller’s Song

MENG Jiao (751-814 AD)

The thread in the hands of an amiable mother

Makes clothes for the body of her wayward son; 

Carefully she sews and thoroughly she darns,

Dreading the delays that will keep him away from home. 

But who says the heart of the inch-long grass

Can repay the warmth of the spring sun?

65.6 inches x 24 inches

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八思巴文：元世祖忽必烈(1215-1294 AD)時，國師八思巴(1238-1279 AD)根據吐蕃文而制定的文字。然當時蒙古帝國已分裂為大元和四大汗國，八思巴字祇有元朝(1279-1367 AD)採用。明朝(1368-1644 AD)推翻元朝後，八思巴字遂廢棄不用。

The Mongolian Square Script (Phags-pa Script) is a writing style designed by the Tibetan monk and vice-king, Drogön Chögyal Phags-pa (1238-1279 AD), for Emperor Kublai Khan (1215-1294 AD) of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1367 AD). Its usage was limited to the Yuan Dynasty and later fell out of use with the advent of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 AD).

孟郊(751-814 AD)，字東野，湖州武康(今浙江德清)人。現存詩歌五百多首，以短篇的五言古詩最多，代表作即為此首《遊子吟》。

MENG Jiao (751-814 AD) was born in Huzhou (now Deqin, Zhejiang Province). Most of his 500 some poems are written in the 5-character-per-line style, amongst which A Traveller’s Song is the most famous.

白話譯文

慈祥和藹的母親拿著針線，為將要出遠門的孩子縫衣服。
一針一線很細密的縫，既擔心孩子在外面受凍著涼，又憂心孩子在外面遲遲不回來。
子女的孝心就像微小的草，如何纔能報答慈母偉大的養育恩情啊！