The Jade Mountain/At a Border-fortress

by Wang Changling

AT A BORDER-FORTRESS

(Written to Music)

 

Cicadas complain of thin mulberry-treesIn the Eighth-month chill at the frontier pass.Through the gate and back again, all along the road,There is nothing anywhere but yellow reeds and grassesAnd the bones of soldiers from Yu and from PingWho have buried their lives in the dusty sand.. . . Let never a cavalier stir you to envyWith boasts of his horse and his horsemanship.