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12
The Poet Li Po
TRANSLATIONS
II. 7.
Ku Fēng, No. 6
The T'ai horse cannot think of Yüeh;
The birds of Yüeh have no love for Yen.
Feeling and character grow out of habit;
A people's customs cannot be changed.
Once we marched from the Wild Goose Gate;
Now we are fighting in front of the Dragon Pen.
Startled sands blur the desert sun;
Flying snows bewilder the Tartar sky.
Lice swarm in our plumed caps and tiger coats;
Our spirits tremble like the flags we raise to the wind.
Hard fighting gets no reward or praise;
Steadfastness and truth cannot be rightly known.
Who was sorry for Li, the Swift of Wing,[1]
When his white head vanished from the Three Fronts?[2]
The birds of Yüeh have no love for Yen.
Feeling and character grow out of habit;
A people's customs cannot be changed.
Once we marched from the Wild Goose Gate;
Now we are fighting in front of the Dragon Pen.
Startled sands blur the desert sun;
Flying snows bewilder the Tartar sky.
Lice swarm in our plumed caps and tiger coats;
Our spirits tremble like the flags we raise to the wind.
Hard fighting gets no reward or praise;
Steadfastness and truth cannot be rightly known.
Who was sorry for Li, the Swift of Wing,[1]
When his white head vanished from the Three Fronts?[2]
III. 1.
The Distant Parting
Long ago there were two queens[3] called Huang and Ying. And they stood on the shores of the Hsiao-hsiang, to the south of Lake Tung-t'ing. Their sorrow was deep as the waters of the Lake that go straight down a thousand miles. Dark clouds blackened the sun. Shōjō[4] howled in the mist and ghosts whistled in the rain. The queens said, "Though we speak of it we cannot mend it. High Heaven is secretly afraid to shine on our loyalty.
- ↑ Li Kuang, died 125 B.C.
- ↑ Manchurian, Mongolian and Turkestan frontiers.
- ↑ These queens were the daughters of the Emperor Yao, who gave them in marriage to Shun, and abdicated in his favour. Shun's ministers conspired against him and set "the Great Yü" on the throne. A legend says that the spots on the bamboo-leaves which grow on the Hsiang River were caused by the tears of these two queens.
- ↑ I use the Japanese form as being more familiar. A kind of demon-monkey is meant.
