The sand below the border-mountain lies like snow,
And the moon like frost beyond the city-wall,
And someone somewhere, playing a flute,
Has made the soldiers homesick all night long.
Original Poem:
「夜上受降城闻笛」
李益
回乐烽前沙似雪，受降城外月如霜。
不知何处吹芦管，一夜征人尽望乡。
Interpretation:
The Wall of Shouxiang in the early Tang Dynasty has a very illustrious experience, but then in the Tang Dynasty, the decline of national power, border disorder for a long time, it no longer has the inspiring appeal, long garrison here will no longer have the confidence of the early Tang Dynasty, on the contrary, the war-weary mood enveloped them. In such a background, the author with a heavy heart, in late autumn on a moonlit night, climbed the building and looked into the distance, infinite feelings and composed this poem.
When the poet climbed the tower, the moonlight shone on the high beacon tower of the Surrendered City, together with the vast desert at its foot. The moonlight was as cold as frost, colouring the endless sand with a layer of cold colour. In this silent and suffocating night, the poet felt sad. Because the border soldiers are not allowed to return to the long garrison, the whole day is not fighting outside the city, or only to the cold and loneliness. General on the horse, the head of the building, for this cold, lonely feeling, their hearts have what kind of pain and unbearable, is a border life experience of the poet thought.
In the silence, I don’t know where to come from a reed pipe playing sound, this with the wind, intermittent music, even blew all the feelings of homesickness. If it were not for the eager homesickness of the conscripts, and if it were not for the sleeplessness of the conscripts, how could this musical sound disturb their deep sleep after a fierce battle?
From the perspective of the whole poem, the first two lines are about scenery, the third line is about sound, and the last line is about feelings. The first three lines are to set up and pave the way for the direct expression of emotion in the last line. The whole poem is a fusion of scenery, sound, and feelings, blending poetic, pictorial, and musical beauty into one, forming a complete artistic whole, with a muddled, concise, and ethereal mood, but also with an inexhaustible character. The poem has been composed for strings and pipes and sung all over the world, making it an outstanding masterpiece of the Middle Tang Dynasty.
Poem translator:
Kiang Kanghu
About the poet:
Li Yi (李益), 748-829 AD, a native of Wuwei in Gansu Province, was one of the “Ten Scholarly Men of the Dali Dynasty”, and is best known for his works on the border and the Plateau, especially for his seven-character stanzas. His poems had a harmonious rhythm and were sung by musicians at that time.
