岑参

白雪歌送武判官归京

北风卷地白草折， 胡天八月即飞雪；

忽如一夜春风来， 千树万树梨花开。

散入珠帘湿罗幕， 狐裘不暖锦衾薄。

将军角弓不得控， 都护铁衣冷犹著。

瀚海阑干百丈冰， 愁云黪淡万里凝。

中军置酒饮归客， 胡琴琵琶与羌笛。

纷纷暮雪下辕门， 风掣红旗冻不翻。

轮台东门送君去， 去时雪满天山路；

山回路转不见君， 雪上空留马行处。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Cen Can

A SONG OF WHITE SNOW IN FAREWELL

TO FIELD-CLERK WU GOING HOME

The north wind rolls the white grasses and breaks them；

And the Eighth-month snow across the Tartar sky

Is like a spring gale, come up in the night,

Blowing open the petals of ten thousand peartrees.

It enters the pearl blinds, it wets the silk curtains；

A fur coat feels cold, a cotton mat flimsy；

Bows become rigid, can hardly be drawn

And the metal of armour congeals on the men；

The sand-sea deepens with fathomless ice,

And darkness masses its endless clouds；

But we drink to our guest bound home from camp,

And play him barbarian lutes, guitars, harps；

Till at dusk, when the drifts are crushing our tents

And our frozen red flags cannot flutter in the wind,

We watch him through Wheel-Tower Gate going eastward.

Into the snow-mounds of Heaven-Peak Road……

And then he disappears at the turn of the pass,

Leaving behind him only hoof-prints.