"Ode of Lime" is a poem about ambitions, written by Yu Qian, a poet of the Ming Dynasty. Yu Qian is a national hero and an honest and upright official.

The author uses lime as a metaphor to express his strong and unyielding character and his unconventional character. After tens of thousands of hammerings into the mountains, burning with raging fire is still considered normal. Even if you are shattered to pieces, why should you be afraid, just to keep a piece of green and white (as clear as the color of stone, now "innocent" is often used) in the world forever.

The Song of Lime

[Ming Dynasty] Yu Qian

Original text

Thousands of hammers carved out the deep mountains, and the fire burned them as if nothing happened.

Don’t be afraid of your bones being shattered into pieces, you must remain innocent in this world.

Translation

(Limestone) can only be mined from the mountains after thousands of hammerings, and it treats the burning of raging fire as a very common thing.

Even if your body is broken into pieces, you are not afraid, and you are willing to leave your innocence in the world.