[updated October 2022]
Travel For a While to Go Hunting
行 行 且 游 猎 篇
边城儿
生 年 不 读 一 字 书
但 知 游 猎 夸 轻 乔。
胡 马 秋 肥 宜 白 草
骑 来 蹑 影 何 矜 骄。
金 鞭 弗 雪 挥 鸣 鞘
半 酣 呼 鹰 出 远 郊。
弓 弯 满 月 不 虚 发
双 鸧 迸 落 连 飞 髇
海 边 观 者 皆 辟 易
猛 气 英 风 振 沙 碛。
儒 生 不 及 游 侠 人
白 首 垂 帷 复 何 益？
Xing Xing Qie You Lie Pian
Bian cheng er
Sheng nian bu du yi zi shu
Dan zhi you lie kua qing qiao
Hu ma qiu fei yi bai cao
Qi lai nie ying he jin jiao
Jin bian fu xue hui ming qiao
Ban han hu ying chu yuan jiao.
Gong wan man yue bu xu fa
Shuang cang beng luo lian fei xiao
Hai bian guan zhe jie pi yi
Meng qi ying feng zhen sha qi.
Ru sheng bu ji you xia ren
Bai shou chui wei fu he yi?
Travel For a While to Go Hunting
Young boys outside the city wall
Since birth have not read one character in one book.
Yet they know how to easily and quickly hunt
Huzi horses fat with white-autumn grasses.
Riding in flying shadows with no restraint
Wielding golden whips with the sounds of white grasses.
Merrily and with gusto, they and their hawks head for the city’s edge
Notched arrows, bent bows the shape of full moons.
Pair of orioles fall down after multiple arrows flew
Spectators all acknowledge their skills.
Fierce hero atmosphere vibrates desert sand particles
Confucian intellectuals cannot attain the renown of traveling martial artists
What benefits go to white-haired tutors and teachers?
Notes:
Huzi: Literally means those with beards. A word that refers to the Xiongnu, the northern Mongolian nomads.