The moon goes back to the time of Qin, the wall to the time of Han,
And the road our troops are travelling goes back three hundred miles...
Oh, for the Winged General at the Dragon City --
That never a Tartar horseman might cross the Yin Mountains!
Original Poem:
「出塞」
王昌龄
秦时明月汉时关，万里长征人未还。
但使龙城飞将在，不教胡马度阴山。
Interpretation:
This is one of the best poems on the border, mainly expressing the poet’s wish to appoint good generals to pacify the war on the border as soon as possible, so that the people can lead a stable life.
In the first two lines, the moon and the border are still the same as in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and the soldiers have not returned from the fierce battles to defend the border against the enemy.
The first line sketches out a bleak scene of the cold moon shining over the border. The bright moon of the Qin-Han period and the pass of the Qin-Han period. The poet implies that the war here has not stopped since the Qin and Han Dynasties, emphasizing the long period of time. The second line refers to the distance between the border and the interior, which is imaginary but highlights the vastness of space. The second line refers to the distance between the border and the mainland, which is imaginary, but emphasizes the vastness of space. It also reminds people of the disasters brought by the war, and expresses the poet’s feelings of grief and anger.
The third and fourth lines: As long as Li Guang, the flying general of Longcheng, is still around today, he will definitely not let the enemy’s iron hooves step over Yinshan.
How can we relieve the people’s hardship? The poet hopes for a talented general. If Wei Qing and Li Guang, who attacked Longcheng, were alive today, they would never let the Hu cavalry cross Yinshan. The last two lines of the poem borrowed the old poem of Li Guang, who was a valiant warrior and loved soldiers like a son in Han Dynasty, to write out the common people’s longing for good generals, and expressed the common voice of the people’s hope for peace.
The whole poem sings out a majestic and open-minded theme with a thick momentum, which has been highly praised for thousands of years.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Wang Changling (王昌龄), circa A.D. 690 – 756, was a native of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province. Wang Changling’s poems were mostly about the Border Places, love affairs and farewells, and he was well known during his lifetime. His seven poems are equal to those of Li Bai, and he is known as the “Master of seven lines”.
