[updated October 2022]
Small Army Drum Travels
鼙 鼓 行
淮 海 生 云 暮 惨 澹
广 陵 城 头 鼙 鼓 暗。
寒 声 坎 坎 风 动 边
忽 似 孤 城 万 里 绝
四 望 无 人 烟。
又 如 虏 骑 截 辽 水
胡 马 不 食 仰 朔 天。
座 中 亦 有 燕 赵 士
闻 鼙 不 语 客 心 死。
何 况 鳏 孤 火
绝 无 晨 炊
独 妇 夜 泣 官 有 期。
Pi Gu Xing
Huai hai sheng yun mu can dan
Guang ling tou pi gu an.
Han sheng kan kan feng dong bian
Hu si gu cheng wan li jue.
Si wang wu ren yan
You ru lu qi jie liao shui.
Hu ma bu shi yang shuo tian
Zuo zhong yi you yan zhao shi
Wen pi bu yu ke xin si.
He kuang guan gu huo
Jue wu chen chui
Du fu ye qi guan you qi.
Small Army Drum Travels
Huai River, emerging clouds at sunset extremely red
Guangling city walls with small and hidden army drums.
Cold sounds weak like wind moving in from the borders
Ignored like solitary and broken city walls three thousand miles away.
Without people, gaze into the distant mists in all four directions
Nomad cavalry cut off any movements of our army past the distant rivers.
Barbarian horses running unopposed, advance without stopping to eat
Here I sit in the middle of Yan and Zhao scholars.
Hearing army drums, cannot respond in any way, hearts and minds die
Too many family situations without potential and right-age fighters.
Early morning there are no cooking fires
Evenings, solitary women weep as government couriers scheduled to arrive soon.
Notes:
Huai River: Large river running west to east in between the Yellow River and the Changjiang (Yanzi River).
Guangling city: Ancient name for the city of Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province.
Yan and Zhao: The Yan was a nation state in the far north (11th century to 222 BC) during the Zhou Dynasty. The Zhao was a nation state to the south of Yan (403-222 BC).