Drink, my horse, while we cross the autumn water!-
The stream is cold and the wind like a sword,
As we watch against the sunset on the sandy plain,
Far, far away, shadowy Lingtao.
Old battles, waged by those long walls,
Once were proud on all men's tongues.
But antiquity now is a yellow dust,
Confusing in the grasses its ruins and white bones.
Original Poem:
「塞下曲」
王昌龄
饮马渡秋水， 水寒风似刀。
平沙日未没， 黯黯见临洮。
昔日长城战， 咸言意气高。
黄尘足今古， 白骨乱蓬蒿。
Interpretation:
Like “At a border-fortress”, this musical composition expresses the author’s anti-war ideology.
The poem is narrated against the backdrop of the Great Wall, and it is written in the first person from the point of view of “I”, describing the sufferings brought by the war to the people. The coldness and stinginess of the water is used to illustrate the harshness of the environment outside the Great Wall. The metaphor of wind and knife is often used in Tang poems, such as “the wind is like a knife and the face is like a cut”, which should be the common daily language of poets in that period.
The next two lines of the poem are a mixture of scene and scene, which well illustrates what the author saw. It is very realistic, simple and unadorned, and written by hand, but it is extremely sentimental.
The last four lines write about the Great Wall area, the ancient thoughts, the war has always been constant, white bones into mounds, the scene is miserable. How many of the bones of the soldiers were abandoned in the weeds, how many brilliant human fame are buried in the yellow sand under the diffuse!
The whole poem is written in a shocking manner, which profoundly expresses the author’s non-war ideology.
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”.
