釋懷深《擬寒山詩（其一百三十二）》 “In Imitation of Hanshan’s Poems (No. 132)” by Buddhist Huaishen (1077-1132)

一鼠變蝙蝠， A mouse turned into a bat,

群鼠相慶賀。 And got congratulations from its fellow mice.

飛鳴覺身輕， Soaring and singing, [it] felt so light,

自喜脫貓禍。 Pleased with its freedom from cat disaster.

日中不見物， No sight in the day,

夜裡長忍餓。 Endless hunger at night,

不如當鼠時， Unlike its old life as a mouse, 

窟裡飽眠臥。 [1] That lay in its nest well-fed, dozing.

* Fu Xuancong 傅璇琮 (1933-2016), Ni Qixin 倪其心 (1934-2002), Sun Qinshan 孫欽善, Chen Xin 陳新 eds., Quan Song shi 全宋詩 (Beijing: Beijing Daxue chubanshe, 1995), 1400.16113.

[1] Red characters rhyme.

A reminder for mice/bats: never underestimate a cat's hunting skills!

PS: The poor thing in the picture managed to escape in the end

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