University of Virginia Library

樂府 李頎 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。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Qi AN OLD WAR-SONG

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.