The rhyme is shin/in/chin/pin; tones match, and parallel expression occurs in the second and third couplets. King Yao was an exemplary monarch in old China.
Who said long life is the greatest of the five blessings?
Long life is a curse, King Yao said, with the wisdom of the spirit world.
Old friends have all gone back to the mountain.
The young are strangers to me; I’m at odds with the world.
I have no energy; my voice is a whimpering whisper.
My tummy is hollow; yet my taste for nice food lives on.
The family has no idea how difficult it is to mind a child.
They tell me I’m free as a breeze and saddle me with the baby.