The Jade Mountain/An Old Air
AN OLD AIR
There once was a man, sent on military missions,A wanderer, from youth, on the Yu and Yen frontiers.Under the horses' hoofs he would meet his foesAnd, recklessly risking his seven-foot body,Would slay whoever dared confrontThose moustaches that bristled like porcupine-quills. . . . There were dark clouds below the hills, there were white clouds above them,But before a man has served full time, how can he go back?In eastern Liao a girl was waiting, a girl of fifteen years,Deft with a guitar, expert in dance and song.. . . She seems to be fluting, even now, a reed-song of home,Filling every soldier's eyes with homesick tears.