唐 詩 Tang Shi – 300 Tang poems

燕歌行並序
開元二十六年，客有從御史大夫張公出塞而還者， 作燕歌行以示適，感征戍之事，因而和焉。

漢家煙塵在東北， 漢將辭家破殘賊。
男兒本自重橫行， 天子非常賜顏色。
摐金伐鼓下榆關， 旌旆逶迤碣石間。
校尉羽書飛瀚海， 單于獵火照狼山。
山川蕭條極邊土， 胡騎憑陵雜風雨。
戰士軍前半死生， 美人帳下猶歌舞。
大漠窮秋塞草衰， 孤城落日鬥兵稀。
身當恩遇常輕敵， 力盡關山未解圍。
鐵衣遠戍辛勤久， 玉筋應啼別離後。
少婦城南欲斷腸， 征人薊北空回首。
邊庭飄颻那可度？ 絕域蒼茫更何有？
殺氣三時作陣雲， 寒聲一夜傳刁斗。
相看白刃血紛紛， 死節從來豈顧勳。
君不見沙場征戰苦？ 至今猶憶李將軍。

原文 74

The northeastern border of China was dark with smoke and dust.
To repel the savage invaders, our generals, leaving their families,
Strode forth together, looking as heroes should look;
And having received from the Emperor his most gracious favour,
They marched to the beat of gong and drum through the Elm Pass.
They circled the Stone Tablet with a line of waving flags,
Till their captains over the Sea of Sand were twanging feathered orders.
The Tartar chieftain's hunting-fires glimmered along Wolf Mountain,
And heights and rivers were cold and bleak there at the outer border;
But soon the barbarians' horses were plunging through wind and rain.
Half of our men at the front were killed, but the other half are living,
And still at the camp beautiful girls dance for them and sing.
...As autumn ends in the grey sand, with the grasses all withered,
The few surviving watchers by the lonely wall at sunset,
Serving in a good cause, hold life and the foeman lightly.
And yet, for all that they have done, Elm Pass is still unsafe.
Still at the front, iron armour is worn and battered thin,
And here at home food-sticks are made of jade tears.
Still in this southern city young wives' hearts are breaking,
While soldiers at the northern border vainly look toward home.
The fury of the wind cuts our men's advance
In a place of death and blue void, with nothingness ahead.
Three times a day a cloud of slaughter rises over the camp;
And all night long the hour-drums shake their chilly booming,
Until white swords can be seen again, spattered with red blood.
...When death becomes a duty, who stops to think of fame?
Yet in speaking of the rigours of warfare on the desert
We name to this day Li, the great General, who lived long ago.

Bynner 74

古從軍行
白日登山望烽火， 黃昏飲馬傍交河。
行人刁斗風沙暗， 公主琵琶幽怨多。
野雲萬里無城郭， 雨雪紛紛連大漠。
胡雁哀鳴夜夜飛， 胡兒眼淚雙雙落。
聞道玉門猶被遮， 應將性命逐輕車。
年年戰骨埋荒外， 空見葡萄入漢家。

原文 75

Through the bright day up the mountain, we scan the sky for a war-torch;
At yellow dusk we water our horses in the boundaryriver;
And when the throb of watch-drums hangs in the sandy wind,
We hear the guitar of the Chinese Princess telling her endless woe....
Three thousand miles without a town, nothing but camps,
Till the heavy sky joins the wide desert in snow.
With their plaintive calls, barbarian wildgeese fly from night to night,
And children of the Tartars have many tears to shed;
But we hear that the Jade Pass is still under siege,
And soon we stake our lives upon our light warchariots.
Each year we bury in the desert bones unnumbered,
Yet we only watch for grape-vines coming into China.

Bynner 75

洛陽女兒行
洛陽女兒對門居， 纔可容顏十五餘；
良人玉勒乘驄馬， 侍女金盤膾鯉魚。
畫閣朱樓盡相望， 紅桃綠柳垂簷向。
羅帷送上七香車， 寶扇迎歸九華帳。
狂夫富貴在青春， 意氣驕奢劇季倫。
自憐碧玉親教舞， 不惜珊瑚持與人。
春窗曙滅九微火， 九微片片飛花璅。
戲罷曾無理曲時， 妝成祇是薰香坐。
城中相識盡繁華， 日夜經過趙李家。
誰憐越女顏如玉？ 貧賤江頭自浣紗。

原文 76

There's a girl from Loyang in the door across the street,
She looks fifteen, she may be a little older.
...While her master rides his rapid horse with jade bit an bridle,
Her handmaid brings her cod-fish in a golden plate.
On her painted pavilions, facing red towers,
Cornices are pink and green with peach-bloom and with willow,
Canopies of silk awn her seven-scented chair,
And rare fans shade her, home to her nine-flowered curtains.
Her lord, with rank and wealth and in the bud of life,
Exceeds in munificence the richest men of old.
He favours this girl of lowly birth, he has her taught to dance;
And he gives away his coral-trees to almost anyone.
The wind of dawn just stirs when his nine soft lights go out,
Those nine soft lights like petals in a flying chain of flowers.
Between dances she has barely time for singing over the songs;
No sooner is she dressed again than incense burns before her.
Those she knows in town are only the rich and the lavish,
And day and night she is visiting the hosts of the gayest mansions.
...Who notices the girl from Yue with a face of white jade,
Humble, poor, alone, by the river, washing silk?

Bynner 76

老將行
少年十五二十時， 步行奪得胡馬騎。
射殺山中白額虎， 肯數鄴下黃鬚兒。
一身轉戰三千里， 一劍曾當百萬師。
漢兵奮迅如霹靂， 虜騎崩騰畏蒺藜。
衛青不敗由天幸， 李廣無功緣數奇。
自從棄置便衰朽， 世事蹉跎成白首。
昔時飛箭無全目， 今日垂楊生左肘。
路旁時賣故侯瓜， 門前學種先生柳。
蒼茫古木連窮巷， 寥落寒山對虛牖。
誓令疏勒出飛泉， 不似潁川空使酒。
賀蘭山下陣如雲， 羽檄交馳日夕聞。
節使三河募年少， 詔書五道出將軍。
試拂鐵衣如雪色， 聊持寶劍動星文。
願得燕弓射大將， 恥令越甲鳴吾君。
莫嫌舊日雲中守， 猶堪一戰取功勳。

原文 77

When he was a youth of fifteen or twenty,
He chased a wild horse, he caught him and rode him,
He shot the white-browed mountain tiger,
He defied the yellow-bristled Horseman of Ye.
Fighting single- handed for a thousand miles,
With his naked dagger he could hold a multitude.
...Granted that the troops of China were as swift as heaven's thunder
And that Tartar soldiers perished in pitfalls fanged with iron,
General Wei Qing's victory was only a thing of chance.
And General Li Guang's thwarted effort was his fate, not his fault.
Since this man's retirement he is looking old and worn:
Experience of the world has hastened his white hairs.
Though once his quick dart never missed the right eye of a bird,
Now knotted veins and tendons make his left arm like an osier.
He is sometimes at the road-side selling melons from his garden,
He is sometimes planting willows round his hermitage.
His lonely lane is shut away by a dense grove,
His vacant window looks upon the far cold mountains
But, if he prayed, the waters would come gushing for his men
And never would he wanton his cause away with wine.
...War-clouds are spreading, under the Helan Range;
Back and forth, day and night, go feathered messages;
In the three River Provinces, the governors call young men –
And five imperial edicts have summoned the old general.
So he dusts his iron coat and shines it like snow-
Waves his dagger from its jade hilt in a dance of starry steel.
He is ready with his strong northern bow to smite the Tartar chieftain –
That never a foreign war-dress may affront the Emperor.
...There once was an aged Prefect, forgotten and far away,
Who still could manage triumph with a single stroke.

Bynner 77

桃源行
漁舟逐水愛山春， 兩岸桃花夾古津。
坐看紅樹不知遠， 行盡青溪不見人。
山口潛行始隈隩， 山開曠望旋平陸。
遙看一處攢雲樹， 近入千家散花竹。
樵客初傳漢姓名， 居人未改秦衣服。
居人共住武陵源， 還從物外起田園。
月明松下房櫳靜， 日出雲中雞犬喧。
驚聞俗客爭來集， 競引還家問都邑。
平明閭巷掃花開， 薄暮漁樵乘水入。
初因避地去人間， 及至成仙遂不還。
峽裡誰知有人事， 世中遙望空雲山。
不疑靈境難聞見， 塵心未盡思鄉縣。
出洞無論隔山水， 辭家終擬長游衍。
自謂經過舊不迷， 安知峰壑今來變。
當時只記入山深， 青溪幾曲到雲林？
春來遍是桃花水， 不辨仙源何處尋？

原文 78

A fisherman is drifting, enjoying the spring mountains,
And the peach-trees on both banks lead him to an ancient source.
Watching the fresh-coloured trees, he never thinks of distance
Till he comes to the end of the blue stream and suddenly- strange men!
It's a cave-with a mouth so narrow that he has to crawl through;
But then it opens wide again on a broad and level path –
And far beyond he faces clouds crowning a reach of trees,
And thousands of houses shadowed round with flowers and bamboos....
Woodsmen tell him their names in the ancient speech of Han;
And clothes of the Qin Dynasty are worn by all these people
Living on the uplands, above the Wuling River,
On farms and in gardens that are like a world apart,
Their dwellings at peace under pines in the clear moon,
Until sunrise fills the low sky with crowing and barking.
...At news of a stranger the people all assemble,
And each of them invites him home and asks him where he was born.
Alleys and paths are cleared for him of petals in the morning,
And fishermen and farmers bring him their loads at dusk....
They had left the world long ago, they had come here seeking refuge;
They have lived like angels ever since, blessedly far away,
No one in the cave knowing anything outside,
Outsiders viewing only empty mountains and thick clouds.
...The fisherman, unaware of his great good fortune,
Begins to think of country, of home, of worldly ties,
Finds his way out of the cave again, past mountains and past rivers,
Intending some time to return, when he has told his kin.
He studies every step he takes, fixes it well in mind,
And forgets that cliffs and peaks may vary their appearance.
...It is certain that to enter through the deepness of the mountain,
A green river leads you, into a misty wood.
But now, with spring-floods everywhere and floating peachpetals –
Which is the way to go, to find that hidden source?

Bynner 78

蜀道難
噫吁戲， 危乎高哉！
蜀道之難難於上青天！
蠶叢及魚鳧， 開國何茫然。
爾來四萬八千歲， 始與秦塞通人煙。
西當太白有鳥道， 可以橫絕峨眉巔。
地崩山摧壯士死， 然後天梯石棧方鉤連。
上有六龍回日之高標， 下有衝波逆折之迴川。
黃鶴之飛尚不得， 猿猱欲度愁攀援。
青泥何盤盤， 百步九折縈巖巒，
捫參歷井仰脅息， 以手撫膺坐長歎。
問君西遊何時還？ 畏途巉巖不可攀。
但見悲鳥號古木， 雄飛雌從繞林間；
又聞子規啼， 夜月愁空山。
蜀道之難難於上青天！
使人聽此凋朱顏。
連峰去天不盈尺， 枯松倒掛倚絕壁。
飛湍瀑流爭喧豗， 砯崖轉石萬壑雷。
其險也如此！ 嗟爾遠道之人，
胡為乎來哉？ 劍閣崢嶸而崔嵬，
一夫當關， 萬夫莫開；
所守或匪親， 化為狼與豺，
朝避猛虎， 夕避長蛇，
磨牙吮血， 殺人如麻。
錦城雖云樂， 不如早還家。
蜀道之難難於上青天， 側身西望常咨嗟。

原文 79

Oh, but it is high and very dangerous!
Such travelling is harder than scaling the blue sky.
...Until two rulers of this region
Pushed their way through in the misty ages,
Forty-eight thousand years had passed
With nobody arriving across the Qin border.
And the Great White Mountain, westward, still has only a bird's path
Up to the summit of Emei Peak –
Which was broken once by an earthquake and there were brave men lost,
Just finishing the stone rungs of their ladder toward heaven.
...High, as on a tall flag, six dragons drive the sun,
While the river, far below, lashes its twisted course.
Such height would be hard going for even a yellow crane,
So pity the poor monkeys who have only paws to use.
The Mountain of Green Clay is formed of many circles-
Each hundred steps, we have to turn nine turns among its mound –
Panting, we brush Orion and pass the Well Star,
Then, holding our chests with our hands and sinking to the ground with a groan,
We wonder if this westward trail will never have an end.
The formidable path ahead grows darker, darker still,
With nothing heard but the call of birds hemmed in by the ancient forest,
Male birds smoothly wheeling, following the females;
And there come to us the melancholy voices of the cuckoos
Out on the empty mountain, under the lonely moon....
Such travelling is harder than scaling the blue sky.
Even to hear of it turns the cheek pale,
With the highest crag barely a foot below heaven.
Dry pines hang, head down, from the face of the cliffs,
And a thousand plunging cataracts outroar one another
And send through ten thousand valleys a thunder of spinning stones.
With all this danger upon danger,
Why do people come here who live at a safe distance?
...Though Dagger-Tower Pass be firm and grim,
And while one man guards it
Ten thousand cannot force it,
What if he be not loyal,
But a wolf toward his fellows?
...There are ravenous tigers to fear in the day
And venomous reptiles in the night
With their teeth and their fangs ready
To cut people down like hemp.
Though the City of Silk be delectable, I would rather turn home quickly.
Such travelling is harder than scaling the blue sky....
But I still face westward with a dreary moan.

Bynner 79

長相思之一
長相思， 在長安。
絡緯秋啼金井闌， 微霜淒淒簟色寒。
孤燈不明思欲絕， 卷帷望月空長歎。
美人如花隔雲端， 上有青冥之長天，
下有淥水之波瀾。
天長路遠魂飛苦， 夢魂不到關山難。
長相思， 摧心肝。

原文 80

"I am endlessly yearning
To be in Changan.
...Insects hum of autumn by the gold brim of the well;
A thin frost glistens like little mirrors on my cold mat;
The high lantern flickers; and. deeper grows my longing.
I lift the shade and, with many a sigh, gaze upon the moon,
Single as a flower, centred from the clouds.
Above, I see the blueness and deepness of sky.
Below, I see the greenness and the restlessness of water....
Heaven is high, earth wide; bitter between them flies my sorrow.
Can I dream through the gateway, over the mountain?
Endless longing
Breaks my heart."

Bynner 80

長相思之二
日色已盡花含煙， 月明欲素愁不眠。
趙瑟初停鳳凰柱， 蜀琴欲奏鴛鴦絃。
此曲有意無人傳， 願隨春風寄燕然。
憶君迢迢隔青天， 昔日橫波目，
今成流淚泉。
不信妾腸斷， 歸來看取明鏡前。

原文 81

"The sun has set, and a mist is in the flowers;
And the moon grows very white and people sad and sleepless.
A Zhao harp has just been laid mute on its phoenix holder,
And a Shu lute begins to sound its mandarin-duck strings....
Since nobody can bear to you the burden of my song,
Would that it might follow the spring wind to Yanran Mountain.
I think of you far away, beyond the blue sky,
And my eyes that once were sparkling
Are now a well of tears.
...Oh, if ever you should doubt this aching of my heart,
Here in my bright mirror come back and look at me!"

Bynner 81

行路難之一
金樽清酒斗十千， 玉盤珍羞值萬錢。
停杯投箸不能食， 拔劍四顧心茫然。
欲渡黃河冰塞川， 將登太行雪暗天。
閑來垂釣碧溪上， 忽復乘舟夢日邊。
行路難！ 行路難！
多歧路， 今安在？
長風破浪會有時， 直挂雲帆濟滄海。

原文 82

Pure wine costs, for the golden cup, ten thousand coppers a flagon,
And a jade plate of dainty food calls for a million coins.
I fling aside my food-sticks and cup, I cannot eat nor drink....
I pull out my dagger, I peer four ways in vain.
I would cross the Yellow River, but ice chokes the ferry;
I would climb the Taihang Mountains, but the sky is blind with snow....
I would sit and poise a fishing-pole, lazy by a brook –
But I suddenly dream of riding a boat, sailing for the sun....
Journeying is hard,
Journeying is hard.
There are many turnings –
Which am I to follow?....
I will mount a long wind some day and break the heavy waves
And set my cloudy sail straight and bridge the deep, deep sea.

Bynner 82

行路難之二
大道如青天， 我獨不得出。
羞逐長安社中兒， 赤雞白狗賭梨栗。
彈劍作歌奏苦聲， 曳裾王門不稱情。
淮陰市井笑韓信， 漢朝公卿忌賈生。
君不見， 昔時燕家重郭隗，
擁篲折節無嫌猜；
劇辛樂毅感恩分， 輸肝剖膽效英才。
昭王白骨縈蔓草， 誰人更掃黃金臺？
行路難， 歸去來？

原文 83

The way is broad like the blue sky,
But no way out before my eye.
I am ashamed to follow those who have no guts,
Gambling on fighting cocks and dogs for pears and nuts.
Feng would go homeward way, having no fish to eat;
Zhou did not think to bow to noblemen was meet.
General Han was mocked in the market-place;
The brilliant scholar Jia was banished in disgrace.
Have you not heard of King of Yan in days gone by,
Who venerated talents and built Terrace high
On which he offered gold to gifted men
And stooped low and swept the floor to welcome them?
Grateful, Ju Xin and Yue Yi came then
And served him heart and soul, both full of stratagem.
The King's bones were now buried,
who would sweep the floor of the Gold Terrace any more?
Hard is the way.
Go back without delay!

Bynner 83

行路難之三
有耳莫洗潁川水， 有口莫食首陽蕨。
含光混世貴無名， 何用孤高比雲月？
吾觀自古賢達人， 功成不退皆殞身。
子胥既棄吳江上， 屈原終投湘水濱。
陸機雄才豈自保？ 李斯稅駕苦不早。
華亭鶴唳詎可聞？ 上蔡蒼鷹何足道。
君不見， 吳中張翰稱達生，
秋風忽憶江東行。
且樂生前一杯酒， 何須身後千載名？

原文 84

Don't wash your ears on hearing something you dislike
Nor die of hunger like famous hermits on the Pike!
Living without a fame among the motley crowd,
Why should one be as lofty as the moon or cloud?
Of ancient talents who failed to retire, there's none
But came to tragic ending after glory's won.
The head of General Wu was hung o'er city gate;
In the river was drowned the poet laureate.
The highly talented scholar wished in vain
To preserve his life to hear the cry of the crane.
Minister Li regretted not to have retired
To hunt with falcon gray as he had long desired.
Have you not heard of Zhang Han who resigned, carefree,
To go home to eat his perch with high glee?
Enjoy a cup of wine while you're alive!
Do not care if your fame will not survive!

Bynner 84

將進酒
君不見， 黃河之水天上來，
奔流到海不復回？
君不見， 高堂明鏡悲白髮，
朝如青絲暮成雪？ 人生得意須盡歡，
莫使金樽空對月， 天生我材必有用，
千金散盡還復來。
烹羊宰牛且為樂， 會須一飲三百杯。
岑夫子！ 丹丘生！
將進酒； 君莫停。
與君歌一曲， 請君為我側耳聽。
鐘鼓饌玉不足貴， 但願長醉不願醒。
古來聖賢皆寂寞， 惟有飲者留其名。
陳王昔時宴平樂， 斗酒十千恣讙謔。
主人何為言少錢？ 徑須沽取對君酌。
五花馬， 千金裘。
呼兒將出換美酒， 與爾同消萬古愁。

原文 85

See how the Yellow River's waters move out of heaven.
Entering the ocean, never to return.
See how lovely locks in bright mirrors in high chambers,
Though silken-black at morning, have changed by night to snow.
...Oh, let a man of spirit venture where he pleases
And never tip his golden cup empty toward the moon!
Since heaven gave the talent, let it be employed!
Spin a thousand pieces of silver, all of them come back!
Cook a sheep, kill a cow, whet the appetite,
And make me, of three hundred bowls, one long drink!
...To the old master, Cen,
And the young scholar, Danqiu,
Bring in the wine!
Let your cups never rest!
Let me sing you a song!
Let your ears attend!
What are bell and drum, rare dishes and treasure?
Let me be forever drunk and never come to reason!
Sober men of olden days and sages are forgotten,
And only the great drinkers are famous for all time.
...Prince Chen paid at a banquet in the Palace of Perfection
Ten thousand coins for a cask of wine, with many a laugh and quip.
Why say, my host, that your money is gone?
Go and buy wine and we'll drink it together!
My flower-dappled horse,
My furs worth a thousand,
Hand them to the boy to exchange for good wine,
And we'll drown away the woes of ten thousand generations!

Bynner 85

Chanson à boire

Seigneur, ne voyez-vous donc point les eaux du fleuve Jaune ?
Elles descendent du ciel et coulent vers la mer sans jamais revenir 1.
Seigneur, ne regardez-vous donc point dans les miroirs qui ornent votre noble demeure,
Et ne gémissez-vous pas en apercevant vos cheveux blancs ?

Ils étaient ce matin comme les fils de soie noire,
Et, ce soir, les voilà déjà mêlés de neige.
L'homme qui sait comprendre la vie doit se réjouir chaque fois qu'il le peut,
En ayant soin que jamais sa tasse ne reste vide en face de la lune2.

Le ciel ne m'a rien donné sans vouloir que j'en fasse usage ;
Mille pièces d'or que l'on disperse pourront de nouveau se réunir.
Que l'on cuise donc un mouton, que l'on découpe un bœuf, et qu'on soit en joie ;
Il faut qu'ensemble aujourd'hui, nous buvions d'une seule fois trois cents tasses3.

Les clochettes et les tambours, la recherche dans les mets ne sont point choses nécessaires,
Ne désirons qu'une longue ivresse, mais si longue qu'on n'en puisse sortir.
Les savants et les sages de l'Antiquité n'ont eu que le silence et l'oubli pour partage ;
Il n'est vraiment que les buveurs dont le nom passe à la postérité.

1. La mythologie chinoise place les sources du fleuve Jaune dans la voie lactée. On trouvera cette fable rapportée plus loin, aux notes de la pièce de Ouang-leng-jèn, ayant pour titre : Sur un vieil arbre couché au bord de l'eau...

2. Pour les Chinois, qui n'ont guère de soirées aux flambeaux, le clair de lune est toujours une occasion de prolonger la veillée. Ne jamais laisser sa tasse vide en face de la lune équivaut donc à dire : ne jamais perdre une occasion de boire et de se divertir.

3. Ce nombre de trois cents tasses est évidemment hyperbolique. Il est bon de noter toutefois que ces tasses pour boire le vin, qui figurent invariablement dans les réunions d'amis et de poètes, ne sont pas même de la contenance de nos plus petits verres à liqueur. Il est vrai d'ajouter aussi que le vin des Chinois n'est le plus souvent que de l'eau-de-vie de grain.

La culture des lettres étant la principale préoccupation des classes élevées, chez un peuple où les succès littéraires deviennent la clef de toutes les carrières, des passe-temps très goûtés sont ceux où l'on fait assaut de verve et d'érudition. Toute erreur, toute lenteur d'inspiration, tout défaut de mémoire sont punis, suivant la gravité des cas, d'une ou plusieurs tasses à vider. Les plus habiles acceptent des défis dont le résultat se devine, et chacun arrive bientôt à cet état de demi-ivresse, pouàn-tsieou, si vanté par les poètes chinois.

Quant à Li-taï-pé, il faut malheureusement constater qu'il n'était guère dans ses principes de s'en tenir là.

Voir d'autres traductions françaises.

Hervey 15

兵車行
車轔轔， 馬蕭蕭，
行人弓箭各在腰。
耶孃妻子走相送， 塵埃不見咸陽橋。
牽衣頓足攔道哭， 哭聲直上干雲霄。
道旁過者問行人， 行人但云點行頻。
或從十五北防河， 便至四十西營田。
去時里正與裹頭， 歸來頭白還戍邊。
邊亭流血成海水， 武皇開邊意未已。
君不聞， 漢家山東二百州，
千村萬落生荊杞？
縱有健婦把鋤犁， 禾生隴畝無東西。
況復秦兵耐苦戰， 被驅不異犬與雞。
長者雖有問， 役夫敢申恨；
且如今年冬， 未休關西卒。
縣官急索租， 租稅從何出？
信知生男惡， 反是生女好；
生女猶得嫁比鄰， 生男埋沒隨百草。
君不見， 青海頭，
古來白骨無人收？
新鬼煩冤舊鬼哭， 天陰雨濕聲啾啾。

原文 86

The war-chariots rattle,
The war-horses whinny.
Each man of you has a bow and a quiver at his belt.
Father, mother, son, wife, stare at you going,
Till dust shall have buried the bridge beyond Changan.
They run with you, crying, they tug at your sleeves,
And the sound of their sorrow goes up to the clouds;
And every time a bystander asks you a question,
You can only say to him that you have to go.
...We remember others at fifteen sent north to guard the river
And at forty sent west to cultivate the campfarms.
The mayor wound their turbans for them when they started out.
With their turbaned hair white now, they are still at the border,
At the border where the blood of men spills like the sea –
And still the heart of Emperor Wu is beating for war.
...Do you know that, east of China's mountains, in two hundred districts
And in thousands of villages, nothing grows but weeds,
And though strong women have bent to the ploughing,
East and west the furrows all are broken down?
...Men of China are able to face the stiffest battle,
But their officers drive them like chickens and dogs.
Whatever is asked of them,
Dare they complain?
For example, this winter
Held west of the gate,
Challenged for taxes,
How could they pay?
...We have learned that to have a son is bad luck-
It is very much better to have a daughter
Who can marry and live in the house of a neighbour,
While under the sod we bury our boys.
...Go to the Blue Sea, look along the shore
At all the old white bones forsaken –
New ghosts are wailing there now with the old,
Loudest in the dark sky of a stormy day.

Bynner 86

麗人行
三月三日天氣新， 長安水邊多麗人。
態濃意遠淑且真， 肌理細膩骨肉勻。
繡羅衣裳照暮春， 蹙金孔雀銀麒麟。
頭上何所有？ 翠微盍葉垂鬢唇。
背後何所見？ 珠壓腰衱穩稱身。
就中雲幕椒房親， 賜名大國虢與秦。
紫駝之峰出翠釜， 水精之盤行素鱗。
犀箸饜飫久未下， 鸞刀縷切空紛綸。
黃門飛鞚不動塵， 御廚絡繹送八珍。
簫鼓哀吟感鬼神， 賓從雜遝實要津。
後來鞍馬何逡巡？ 當軒下馬入錦茵。
楊花雪落覆白蘋， 青鳥飛去銜紅巾。
炙手可熱勢絕倫， 慎莫近前丞相嗔。

原文 87

On the third day of the Third-month in the freshening weather
Many beauties take the air by the Changan waterfront,
Receptive, aloof, sweet-mannered, sincere,
With soft fine skin and well-balanced bone.
Their embroidered silk robes in the spring sun are gleaming –
With a mass of golden peacocks and silver unicorns.
And hanging far down from their temples
Are blue leaves of delicate kingfisher feathers.
And following behind them
Is a pearl-laden train, rhythmic with bearers.
Some of them are kindred to the Royal House –
The titled Princesses Guo and Qin.
Red camel-humps are brought them from jade broilers,
And sweet fish is ordered them on crystal trays.
Though their food-sticks of unicorn-horn are lifted languidly
And the finely wrought phoenix carving-knife is very little used,
Fleet horses from the Yellow Gate, stirring no dust,
Bring precious dishes constantly from the imperial kitchen.
...While a solemn sound of flutes and drums invokes gods and spirits,
Guests and courtiers gather, all of high rank;
And finally, riding slow, a dignified horseman
Dismounts at the pavilion on an embroidered rug.
In a snow of flying willow-cotton whitening the duckweed,
Bluebirds find their way with vermilion handkerchiefs –
But power can be as hot as flame and burn people's fingers.
Be wary of the Premier, watch for his frown.

Bynner 87