Poetry Friday

Po Chu I was many things: a successful government official, a well known and tremendously popular poet, and an exemplar of Confucian duty. He is considered one of the four great Tang dynasty poets, along with the Buddhist Wang Wei, the Taoist estatic Li Bai, and the greatest of the them all, the perfect Du Fu.
Po Chu I was considered the "people's poet". His success in government gave him a wide perspective on the suffering all around him, and yet he didn't become complacent or withdrawn. This earned him devotion over the next thousand or so years.
If you want to see more go here. If you want to peruse a great book on the poet, here's an e-text.

The Grain Tribute (transl. Arthur Waley)

There came an officer knocking by night at my door

In a loud voice demanding grain-tribute.

My house-servants dared not wait till the morning,

But brought candles and set them on the barn-floor.

Passed through the sieve, clean-washed as pearls,

A whole cart-load, thirty bushels of grain.

But still they cry that it is not paid in full:

With whips and curses they goad my servants and boys.

Once, in error, I entered public life;

I am inwardly ashamed that my talents were not sufficient.

In succession I occupied four official posts;

For doing nothing—ten years’ salary!

Often have I heard that saying of ancient men

That “good and ill follow in an endless chain.”

And to-day it ought to set my heart at rest

To return to others the corn in my great barn.