李颀

古从军行

白日登山望烽火， 黄昏饮马傍交河。

行人刁斗风沙暗， 公主琵琶幽怨多。

野云万里无城郭， 雨雪纷纷连大漠。

胡雁哀鸣夜夜飞， 胡儿眼泪双双落。

闻道玉门犹被遮， 应将性命逐轻车。

年年战骨埋荒外， 空见葡萄入汉家。

Folk-song-styled-verse

Li Qi

AN OLD WAR-SONG

Through the bright day up the mountain, we scan the sky for a war-torch；

At yellow dusk we water our horses in the boundaryriver；

And when the throb of watch-drums hangs in the sandy wind,

We hear the guitar of the Chinese Princess telling her endless woe……

Three thousand miles without a town, nothing but camps,

Till the heavy sky joins the wide desert in snow.

With their plaintive calls, barbarian wildgeese fly from night to night,

And children of the Tartars have many tears to shed；

But we hear that the Jade Pass is still under siege,

And soon we stake our lives upon our light warchariots.

Each year we bury in the desert bones unnumbered,

Yet we only watch for grape-vines coming into China.