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Chariots
rumble,
Horses neigh,
Men marching, bow and arrows at the waist.
So much dust, you cannot see the bridge o'er River Wei.
Fathers, mothers, wives and children run along to bid farewell,
Clutching at clothes, stamping their feet, standing in the way, wailing.
Wailing so loud it pierces the clouds.
A passerby asks a soldier.
The soldier simply says:
Conscription again.
Going north to guard Huanghe, one is probably just fifteen;
Sent west to till the land, he would be then already forty.
Leaving, wearing a headscarf tied by the village elder;
Returning, hoary-headed, still to guard the border.
The border is a sea of blood.
Emperor Wu still intends to push ahead. 2
Have you not heard, in the two hundred districts of Guandong
Thousands of villages o'ergrown with bramble and medlar?
Even with sturdy women to hoe and plow,
The rice paddies grow haphazardly, no east, no west.
The Guanxi forces, moreover, have endured a drawn out war,
And are driven about like dogs and chickens.
Though an elder may kindly ask,
Dare a soldier speak his heart?
This winter, for instance,
No rest for the Guanxi soldiers,
While district governors press hard for land taxes.
Taxes to come from where?
Now I know, to have a son is no blessing.
Indeed, 'tis better to have a daughter.
A daughter can be married to a neighbour.
A son is sure to die, in the wilderness to lie.
Have you not seen, at the shores of Lake Qinghai, 3
White bones have lain ungathered for ages?
When the sky is overcast, and the air is wet with rain,
You can hear a haunting howl:
New ghosts moan,
Old ghosts cry.
Translated
by Tommy W.K. Tao, Vancouver, B.C.
1
Written around 751. The Tang army was on a campaign to conquer the hostile
neighbour to the southwest but suffered grave defeats. Many died of
sickness in the swampy areas of the south, even before they reached the
battleground. Conscription was made by force. Parents and wives would wail
sending off the conscripted young men. 《資治通鑒》卷26
2 Emperor Wu" was a famous expansionist emperor of the Han dynasty.
Here the poet for self-protection had to hide his criticism of his own
emperor by referring to history.
3 Lake Qinghai is a salt water lake. It is about 1,625 square miles, one
of the largest lakes in China, and is at an altitude of 10,515 feet in the
Tibetan highlands. |
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車轔轔，
馬蕭蕭，
行人弓箭各在腰。
耶娘妻子走相送，
塵埃不見咸陽橋。
牽衣頓足攔道哭，
哭聲直上干雲霄。
道傍過者問行人，
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。
邊庭流血成海水，
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。
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