中英《唐诗三百首》

田寶

040
乐府
李白
子夜四时歌 夏歌

镜湖三百里， 菡萏发荷花。
五月西施采， 人看隘若耶。
回舟不待月， 归去越王家。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
BALLADS OF FOUR SEASONS: SUMMER

On Mirror Lake outspread for miles and miles,
The lotus lilies in full blossom teem.
In fifth moon Xi Shi gathers them with smiles,
Watchers o'erwhelm the bank of Yuoye Stream.
Her boat turns back without waiting moonrise
To yoyal house amid amorous sighs.

田寶

041
乐府
李白
子夜四时歌 秋歌

长安一片月， 万户捣衣声；
秋风吹不尽， 总是玉关情。
何日平胡虏？ 良人罢远征。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
A SONG OF AN AUTUMN MIDNIGHT

A slip of the moon hangs over the capital;
Ten thousand washing-mallets are pounding;
And the autumn wind is blowing my heart
For ever and ever toward the Jade Pass....
Oh, when will the Tartar troops be conquered,
And my husband come back from the long campaign!

田寶

042
乐府
李白
子夜四时歌 冬歌

明朝驿使发， 一夜絮征袍。
素手抽针冷， 那堪把剪刀。
裁缝寄远道， 几日到临洮。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
BALLADS OF FOUR SEASONS: WINTER

The courier will depart next day, she's told.
She sews a warrior's gown all night.
Her fingers feel the needle cold.
How can she hold the scissors tight?
The work is done, she sends it far away.
When will it reach the town where warriors stay?

田寶

043
乐府
李白
长干行

妾发初覆额， 折花门前剧；
郎骑竹马来， 绕床弄青梅。
同居长干里， 两小无嫌猜。
十四为君妇， 羞颜未尝开；
低头向暗壁， 千唤不一回，
十五始展眉， 愿同尘与灰；
常存抱柱信， 岂上望夫台？
十六君远行， 瞿塘滟滪堆；
五月不可触， 猿鸣天上哀。
门前迟行迹， 一一生绿苔；
苔深不能扫， 落叶秋风早。
八月蝴蝶来， 双飞西园草。
感此伤妾心， 坐愁红颜老。
早晚下三巴， 预将书报家；
相迎不道远， 直至长风沙。
又作声 又作黄
Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
A SONG OF CHANGGAN

My hair had hardly covered my forehead.
I was picking flowers, paying by my door,
When you, my lover, on a bamboo horse,
Came trotting in circles and throwing green plums.
We lived near together on a lane in Ch'ang-kan,
Both of us young and happy-hearted.
...At fourteen I became your wife,
So bashful that I dared not smile,
And I lowered my head toward a dark corner
And would not turn to your thousand calls;
But at fifteen I straightened my brows and laughed,
Learning that no dust could ever seal our love,
That even unto death I would await you by my post
And would never lose heart in the tower of silent watching.
...Then when I was sixteen, you left on a long journey
Through the Gorges of Ch'u-t'ang, of rock and whirling water.
And then came the Fifth-month, more than I could bear,
And I tried to hear the monkeys in your lofty far-off sky.
Your footprints by our door, where I had watched you go,
Were hidden, every one of them, under green moss,
Hidden under moss too deep to sweep away.
And the first autumn wind added fallen leaves.
And now, in the Eighth-month, yellowing butterflies
Hover, two by two, in our west-garden grasses
And, because of all this, my heart is breaking
And I fear for my bright cheeks, lest they fade.
...Oh, at last, when you return through the three Pa districts,
Send me a message home ahead!
And I will come and meet you and will never mind the distance,
All the way to Chang-feng Sha.

田寶

044
乐府
孟郊
烈女操

梧桐相待老， 鸳鸯会双死；
贞妇贵殉夫， 舍生亦如此。
波澜誓不起， 妾心井中水。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Meng Jiao
A SONG OF A PURE-HEARTED GIRL

Lakka-trees ripen two by two
And mandarin-ducks die side by side.
If a true-hearted girl will love only her husband,
In a life as faithfully lived as theirs,
What troubling wave can arrive to vex
A spirit like water in a timeless well?

田寶

045
乐府
孟郊
游子吟

慈母手中线， 游子身上衣；
临行密密缝， 意恐迟迟归。
谁言寸草心， 报得三春辉？

Folk-song-styled-verse
Meng Jiao
A TRAVELLER'S SONG

The thread in the hands of a fond-hearted mother
Makes clothes for the body of her wayward boy;
Carefully she sews and thoroughly she mends,
Dreading the delays that will keep him late from home.
But how much love has the inch-long grass
For three spring months of the light of the sun?

田寶

046
七言古诗
陈子昂
登幽州台歌

前不见古人， 后不见来者；
念天地之悠悠， 独怆然而涕下。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Chen Ziang
ON A GATE-TOWER AT YUZHOU

Where, before me, are the ages that have gone?
And where, behind me, are the coming generations?
I think of heaven and earth, without limit, without end,
And I am all alone and my tears fall down.

田寶

047
七言古诗
李颀
古意

男儿事长征， 少小幽燕客，
赌胜马蹄下， 由来轻七尺；
杀人莫敢前， 须如蝟毛磔。
黄云陇底白雪飞， 未得报恩不能归。
辽东小妇年十五，惯弹琵琶解歌舞，
今为羌笛出塞声，使我三军泪如雨。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Qi
AN OLD AIR

There once was a man, sent on military missions,
A wanderer, from youth, on the You and Yan frontiers.
Under the horses' hoofs he would meet his foes
And, recklessly risking his seven-foot body,
Would slay whoever dared confront
Those moustaches that bristled like porcupinequills.
...There were dark clouds below the hills, there were white clouds above them,
But before a man has served full time, how can he go back?
In eastern Liao a girl was waiting, a girl of fifteen years,
Deft with a guitar, expert in dance and song.
...She seems to be fluting, even now, a reed-song of home,
Filling every soldier's eyes with homesick tears.

田寶

048
七言古诗
李颀
送陈章甫

四月南风大麦黄， 枣花未落桐叶长。
青山朝别暮还见， 嘶马出门思故乡。
陈侯立身何坦荡？ 虬须虎眉仍大颡。
腹中贮书一万卷， 不肯低头在草莽。
东门酤酒饮我曹， 心轻万事皆鸿毛，
醉卧不知白日暮， 有时空望孤云高。
长河浪头连天黑， 津口停舟渡不得；
郑国游人未及家， 洛阳行子空叹息。
闻道故林相识多， 罢官昨日今如何。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Qi
A FAREWELL TO MY FRIEND CHEN ZHANGFU

In the Fourth-month the south wind blows plains of yellow barley,
Date-flowers have not faded yet and lakka-leaves are long.
The green peak that we left at dawn we still can see at evening,
While our horses whinny on the road, eager to turn homeward.
...Chen, my friend, you have always been a great and good man,
With your dragon's moustache, tiger's eyebrows and your massive forehead.
In your bosom you have shelved away ten thousand volumes.
You have held your head high, never bowed it in the dust.
...After buying us wine and pledging us, here at the eastern gate,
And taking things as lightly as a wildgoose feather,
Flat you lie, tipsy, forgetting the white sun;
But now and then you open your eyes and gaze at a high lone cloud.
...The tide-head of the lone river joins the darkening sky.
The ferryman beaches his boat. It has grown too late to sail.
And people on their way from Cheng cannot go home,
And people from Loyang sigh with disappointment.
...I have heard about the many friends around your wood land dwelling.
Yesterday you were dismissed. Are they your friends today?

田寶

049
七言古诗
李颀
琴歌

主人有酒欢今夕， 请奏鸣琴广陵客。
月照城头乌半飞， 霜凄万树风入衣；
铜炉华烛烛增辉， 初弹渌水后楚妃。
一声已动物皆静， 四座无言星欲稀。
清淮奉使千余里， 敢告云山从此始。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Qi
A LUTE SONG

Our host, providing abundant wine to make the night mellow,
Asks his guest from Yangzhou to play for us on the lute.
Toward the moon that whitens the city-wall, black crows are flying,
Frost is on ten thousand trees, and the wind blows through our clothes;
But a copper stove has added its light to that of flowery candles,
And the lute plays The Green Water, and then The Queen of Chu.
Once it has begun to play, there is no other sound:
A spell is on the banquet, while the stars grow thin....
But three hundred miles from here, in Huai, official duties await him,
And so it's farewell, and the road again, under cloudy mountains.

田寶

050
七言古诗
李颀
听董大弹胡笳声兼寄语弄房给事

蔡女昔造胡笳声， 一弹一十有八拍。
胡人落泪沾边草， 汉使断肠对归客。
古戍苍苍烽火寒， 大荒沈沈飞雪白。
先拂声弦后角羽， 四郊秋叶惊摵摵。
董夫子，通神明， 深山窃听来妖精。
言迟更速皆应手， 将往复旋如有情。
空山百鸟散还合， 万里浮云阴且晴。
嘶酸雏雁失群夜， 断绝胡儿恋母声。
川为静其波， 鸟亦罢其鸣；
乌孙部落家乡远， 逻娑沙尘哀怨生。
幽音变调忽飘洒， 长风吹林雨堕瓦；
迸泉飒飒飞木末， 野鹿呦呦走堂下。
长安城连东掖垣， 凤凰池对青琐门，
高才脱略名与利， 日夕望君抱琴至。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Qi
ON HEARING DONG PLAY THE FLAGEOLET
A POEM TO PALACE-ATTENDANT FANG

When this melody for the flageolet was made by Lady Cai,
When long ago one by one she sang its eighteen stanzas,
Even the Tartars were shedding tears into the border grasses,
And the envoy of China was heart-broken, turning back home with his escort.
...Cold fires now of old battles are grey on ancient forts,
And the wilderness is shadowed with white new-flying snow.
...When the player first brushes the Shang string and the Jue and then the Yu,
Autumn-leaves in all four quarters are shaken with a murmur.
Dong, the master,
Must have been taught in heaven.
Demons come from the deep pine-wood and stealthily listen
To music slow, then quick, following his hand,
Now far away, now near again, according to his heart.
A hundred birds from an empty mountain scatter and return;
Three thousand miles of floating clouds darken and lighten;
A wildgoose fledgling, left behind, cries for its flock,
And a Tartar child for the mother he loves.
Then river waves are calmed
And birds are mute that were singing,
And Wuzu tribes are homesick for their distant land,
And out of the dust of Siberian steppes rises a plaintive sorrow.
...Suddenly the low sound leaps to a freer tune,
Like a long wind swaying a forest, a downpour breaking tiles,
A cascade through the air, flying over tree-tops.
...A wild deer calls to his fellows. He is running among the mansions
In the corner of the capital by the Eastern Palace wall....
Phoenix Lake lies opposite the Gate of Green Jade;
But how can fame and profit concern a man of genius?
Day and night I long for him to bring his lute again.

田寶

051
七言古诗
李颀
听安万善吹觱篥歌

南山截竹为觱篥， 此乐本自龟兹出。
流传汉地曲转奇， 凉州胡人为我吹；
傍邻闻者多叹息， 远客思乡皆泪垂。
世人解听不解赏， 长飙风中自来往。
枯桑老柏寒飕飗， 九雏鸣凤乱啾啾。
龙吟虎啸一时发， 万籁百泉相与秋。
忽然更作渔阳掺， 黄云萧条白日暗。
变调如闻杨柳春， 上林繁花照眼新。
岁夜高堂列明烛， 美酒一杯声一曲。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Qi
ON HEARING AN WANSHAN PLAY THE REED-PIPE

Bamboo from the southern hills was used to make this pipe.
And its music, that was introduced from Persia first of all,
Has taken on new magic through later use in China.
And now the Tartar from Liangzhou, blowing it for me,
Drawing a sigh from whosoever hears it,
Is bringing to a wanderer's eyes homesick tears....
Many like to listen; but few understand.
To and fro at will there's a long wind flying,
Dry mulberry-trees, old cypresses, trembling in its chill.
There are nine baby phoenixes, outcrying one another;
A dragon and a tiger spring up at the same moment;
Then in a hundred waterfalls ten thousand songs of autumn
Are suddenly changing to The Yuyang Lament;
And when yellow clouds grow thin and the white sun darkens,
They are changing still again to Spring in the Willow Trees.
Like Imperial Garden flowers, brightening the eye with beauty,
Are the high-hall candles we have lighted this cold night,
And with every cup of wine goes another round of music.

田寶

052
七言古诗
孟浩然
夜归鹿门山歌

山寺钟鸣昼已昏， 渔梁渡头争渡喧；
人随沙路向江村， 余亦乘舟归鹿门。
鹿门月照开烟树， 忽到庞公栖隐处；
岩扉松径长寂寥， 惟有幽人自来去。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Meng Haoran
RETURNING AT NIGHT TO LUMEN MOUNTAIN

A bell in the mountain-temple sounds the coming of night.
I hear people at the fishing-town stumble aboard the ferry,
While others follow the sand-bank to their homes along the river.
...I also take a boat and am bound for Lumen Mountain --
And soon the Lumen moonlight is piercing misty trees.
I have come, before I know it, upon an ancient hermitage,
The thatch door, the piney path, the solitude, the quiet,
Where a hermit lives and moves, never needing a companion.

田寶

053
七言古诗
李白
庐山谣寄卢侍御虚舟

我本楚狂人， 凤歌笑孔丘。
手持绿玉杖， 朝别黄鹤楼；
五岳寻仙不辞远， 一生好入名山游。
庐山秀出南斗傍， 屏风九叠云锦张；
影落明湖青黛光， 金阙前开二峰长。
银河倒挂三石梁， 香炉瀑布遥相望。
回崖沓障淩苍苍， 翠影红霞映朝日，
鸟飞不到吴天长。
登高壮观天地间， 大江茫茫去不黄。
黄云万里动风色， 白波九道流雪山。
好为庐山谣， 兴因庐山发。
闲窥石镜清我心， 谢公行处苍苔没。
早服还丹无世情， 琴心三叠道初成；
遥见仙人彩云里， 手把芙蓉朝玉京。
先期汗漫九垓上， 愿接卢敖游太清。
又作还
Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Bai
A SONG OF LU MOUNTAIN TO CENSOR LU XUZHOU

I am the madman of the Chu country
Who sang a mad song disputing Confucius.
...Holding in my hand a staff of green jade,
I have crossed, since morning at the Yellow Crane Terrace,
All five Holy Mountains, without a thought of distance,
According to the one constant habit of my life.
Lu Mountain stands beside the Southern Dipper
In clouds reaching silken like a nine-panelled screen,
With its shadows in a crystal lake deepening the green water.
The Golden Gate opens into two mountain-ranges.
A silver stream is hanging down to three stone bridges
Within sight of the mighty Tripod Falls.
Ledges of cliff and winding trails lead to blue sky
And a flush of cloud in the morning sun,
Whence no flight of birds could be blown into Wu.
...I climb to the top. I survey the whole world.
I see the long river that runs beyond return,
Yellow clouds that winds have driven hundreds of miles
And a snow-peak whitely circled by the swirl of a ninefold stream.
And so I am singing a song of Lu Mountain,
A song that is born of the breath of Lu Mountain.
...Where the Stone Mirror makes the heart's purity purer
And green moss has buried the footsteps of Xie,
I have eaten the immortal pellet and, rid of the world's troubles,
Before the lute's third playing have achieved my element.
Far away I watch the angels riding coloured clouds
Toward heaven's Jade City, with hibiscus in their hands.
And so, when I have traversed the nine sections of the world,
I will follow Saint Luao up the Great Purity.

田寶

054
七言古诗
李白
梦游天姥吟留别

海客谈瀛洲， 烟涛微茫信难求。
越人语天姥， 云霓明灭或可睹。
天姥连天向天横， 势拔五岳掩赤城；
天台四万八千丈， 对此欲倒东南倾。
我欲因之梦吴越， 一夜飞渡镜湖月。
湖月照我影， 送我至剡溪；
谢公宿处今尚在， 渌水荡漾清猿啼。
脚著谢公屐， 身登青云梯。
半壁见海日， 空中闻天鸡。
千岩万壑路不定， 迷花倚石忽已暝。
熊咆龙吟殷岩泉， 栗深林兮惊层巅。
云青青兮欲雨， 水澹澹兮生烟。
列缺霹雳， 邱峦崩摧，
洞天石扇， 訇然中开；
青冥浩荡不见底， 日月照耀金银台。
霓为衣兮风为马， 云之君兮纷纷而来下；
虎鼓瑟兮鸾回车。 仙之人兮列如麻。
忽魂悸以魄动， 怳惊起而长嗟。
惟觉时之枕席， 失向来之烟霞。
世间行乐亦如此， 古来万事东流水。
别君去兮何时还？ 且放白鹿青崖间。
须行即骑访名山， 安能摧眉折腰事权贵，
使我不得开心颜？

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Bai
TIANMU MOUNTAIN ASCENDED IN A DREAM

A seafaring visitor will talk about Japan,
Which waters and mists conceal beyond approach;
But Yueh people talk about Heavenly Mother Mountain,
Still seen through its varying deeps of cloud.
In a straight line to heaven, its summit enters heaven,
Tops the five Holy Peaks, and casts a shadow through China
With the hundred-mile length of the Heavenly Terrace Range,
Which, just at this point, begins turning southeast.
...My heart and my dreams are in Wu and Yueh
And they cross Mirror Lake all night in the moon.
And the moon lights my shadow
And me to Yan River --
With the hermitage of Xie still there
And the monkeys calling clearly over ripples of green water.
I wear his pegged boots
Up a ladder of blue cloud,
Sunny ocean half-way,
Holy cock-crow in space,
Myriad peaks and more valleys and nowhere a road.
Flowers lure me, rocks ease me. Day suddenly ends.
Bears, dragons, tempestuous on mountain and river,
Startle the forest and make the heights tremble.
Clouds darken with darkness of rain,
Streams pale with pallor of mist.
The Gods of Thunder and Lightning
Shatter the whole range.
The stone gate breaks asunder
Venting in the pit of heaven,
An impenetrable shadow.
...But now the sun and moon illumine a gold and silver terrace,
And, clad in rainbow garments, riding on the wind,
Come the queens of all the clouds, descending one by one,
With tigers for their lute-players and phoenixes for dancers.
Row upon row, like fields of hemp, range the fairy figures.
I move, my soul goes flying,
I wake with a long sigh,
My pillow and my matting
Are the lost clouds I was in.
...And this is the way it always is with human joy:
Ten thousand things run for ever like water toward the east.
And so I take my leave of you, not knowing for how long.
...But let me, on my green slope, raise a white deer
And ride to you, great mountain, when I have need of you.
Oh, how can I gravely bow and scrape to men of high rank and men of high office
Who never will suffer being shown an honest-hearted face!

田寶

055
七言古诗
李白
金陵酒肆留别

风吹柳花满店香， 吴姬压酒唤客尝；
金陵子弟来相送， 欲行不行各尽觞。
请君试问东流水， 别意与之谁短长？

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Bai
PARTING AT A WINE-SHOP IN NANJING

A wind, bringing willow-cotton, sweetens the shop,
And a girl from Wu, pouring wine, urges me to share it
With my comrades of the city who are here to see me off;
And as each of them drains his cup, I say to him in parting,
Oh, go and ask this river running to the east
If it can travel farther than a friend's love!

田寶

056
七言古诗
李白
宣州谢朓楼饯别校书叔云

弃我去者， 昨日之日不可留；
乱我心者， 今日之日多烦忧。
长风万里送秋雁， 对此可以酣高楼。
蓬莱文章建安骨， 中间小谢又清发，
俱怀逸兴壮思飞， 欲上青天览明月。
抽刀断水水更流， 举杯销愁愁更愁。
人生在世不称意， 明朝散发弄扁舟。
又作复
Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Bai
A FAREWELL TO SECRETARY SHUYUN
AT THE XIETIAO VILLA IN XUANZHOU

Since yesterday had to throw me and bolt,
Today has hurt my heart even more.
The autumn wildgeese have a long wind for escort
As I face them from this villa, drinking my wine.
The bones of great writers are your brushes, in the School of Heaven,
And I am a Lesser Xie growing up by your side.
We both are exalted to distant thought,
Aspiring to the sky and the bright moon.
But since water still flows, though we cut it with our swords,
And sorrows return, though we drown them with wine,
Since the world can in no way answer our craving,
I will loosen my hair tomorrow and take to a fishingboat.

田寶

057
七言古诗
岑参
走马川行奉送封大夫出师西征

君不见走马川行雪海边， 平沙莽莽黄入天。
轮台九月风夜吼， 一川碎石大如斗，
随风满地石乱走。 匈奴草黄马正肥，
金山西见烟尘飞， 汉家大将西出师。
将军金甲夜不脱， 半夜军行戈相拨，
风头如刀面如割。 马毛带雪汗气蒸，
五花连钱旋作冰， 幕中草檄砚水凝。
虏骑闻之应胆慑， 料知短兵不敢接，
车师西门伫献捷。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Cen Can
A SONG OF RUNNING-HORSE RIVER IN FAREWELL
TO GENERAL FENG OF THE WESTERN EXPEDITION

Look how swift to the snowy sea races Running-Horse River! --
And sand, up from the desert, flies yellow into heaven.
This Ninth-month night is blowing cold at Wheel Tower,
And valleys, like peck measures, fill with the broken boulders
That downward, headlong, follow the wind.
...In spite of grey grasses, Tartar horses are plump;
West of the Hill of Gold, smoke and dust gather.
O General of the Chinese troops, start your campaign!
Keep your iron armour on all night long,
Send your soldiers forward with a clattering of weapons!
...While the sharp wind's point cuts the face like a knife,
And snowy sweat steams on the horses' backs,
Freezing a pattern of five-flower coins,
Your challenge from camp, from an inkstand of ice,
Has chilled the barbarian chieftain's heart.
You will have no more need of an actual battle! --
We await the news of victory, here at the western pass!

田寶

058
七言古诗
岑参
轮台歌奉送封大夫出师西征

轮台城头夜吹角， 轮台城北旄头落。
羽书昨夜过渠黎， 单于已在金山西。
戍楼西望烟尘黑， 汉兵屯在轮台北。
上将拥旄西出征， 平明吹笛大军行。
四边伐鼓雪海涌， 三军大呼阴山动。
虏塞兵气连云屯， 战场白骨缠草根。
剑河风急雪片阔， 沙口石冻马蹄脱。
亚相勤王甘苦辛， 誓将报主静边尘。
古来青史谁不见？ 今见功名胜古人。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Cen Can
A SONG OF WHEEL TOWER IN FAREWELL TO GENERAL
FENG OF THE WESTERN EXPEDITION

On Wheel Tower parapets night-bugles are blowing,
Though the flag at the northern end hangs limp.
Scouts, in the darkness, are passing Quli,
Where, west of the Hill of Gold, the Tartar chieftain has halted
We can see, from the look-out, the dust and black smoke
Where Chinese troops are camping, north of Wheel Tower.
...Our flags now beckon the General farther west-
With bugles in the dawn he rouses his Grand Army;
Drums like a tempest pound on four sides
And the Yin Mountains shake with the shouts of ten thousand;
Clouds and the war-wind whirl up in a point
Over fields where grass-roots will tighten around white bones;
In the Dagger River mist, through a biting wind,
Horseshoes, at the Sand Mouth line, break on icy boulders.
...Our General endures every pain, every hardship,
Commanded to settle the dust along the border.
We have read, in the Green Books, tales of old days-
But here we behold a living man, mightier than the dead.

田寶

059
七言古诗
岑参
白雪歌送武判官归京

北风卷地白草折， 胡天八月即飞雪；
忽如一夜春风来， 千树万树梨花开。
散入珠帘湿罗幕， 狐裘不暖锦衾薄。
将军角弓不得控， 都护铁衣冷犹著。
瀚海阑干百丈冰， 愁云黪淡万里凝。
中军置酒饮归客， 胡琴琵琶与羌笛。
纷纷暮雪下辕门， 风掣红旗冻不翻。
轮台东门送君去， 去时雪满天山路；
山回路转不见君， 雪上空留马行处。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Cen Can
A SONG OF WHITE SNOW IN FAREWELL
TO FIELD-CLERK WU GOING HOME

The north wind rolls the white grasses and breaks them;
And the Eighth-month snow across the Tartar sky
Is like a spring gale, come up in the night,
Blowing open the petals of ten thousand peartrees.
It enters the pearl blinds, it wets the silk curtains;
A fur coat feels cold, a cotton mat flimsy;
Bows become rigid, can hardly be drawn
And the metal of armour congeals on the men;
The sand-sea deepens with fathomless ice,
And darkness masses its endless clouds;
But we drink to our guest bound home from camp,
And play him barbarian lutes, guitars, harps;
Till at dusk, when the drifts are crushing our tents
And our frozen red flags cannot flutter in the wind,
We watch him through Wheel-Tower Gate going eastward.
Into the snow-mounds of Heaven-Peak Road....
And then he disappears at the turn of the pass,
Leaving behind him only hoof-prints.