Lu Ji's "Wenfu," Part 2

In a previous post, I mentioned Lu Ji's Wenfu, as translated by Tony Barstone and Chou Ping in The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry. Here is the section titled "The Power of a Poem":

The function of literature
is to express the nature of nature.
It can't be barred as it travels space
and boats across one hundred million years.
Gazing to the fore, I leave models for people to come;
looking aft, I learn from my ancestors.
It can save teetering governments and weak armies;
it gives voice to the dying...