37. A Song on the Frontier: the Second of Two Poems

A poem by Wang Changling, translated by Hyun Woo Kim

Letting the horse drink, I cross the water of autumn:

The water is cold, and the wind resembles knives.

The sun has not set on the sand field;

Dimly, dimly appears Lintao.

In days gone by, at the wars at the Great Wall,

Everyone, they say, was in high spirits.

The yellow sand is enough for now and past;

White skeletons are scattered among mugworts.

「 塞上曲」

飲馬渡秋水

水寒風似刀

平沙日未沒

黯黯見臨洮

昔日長城戰

咸言意氣高

黃塵足今古

白骨亂蓬蒿

From Hyun Woo:

Today’s poem is continued from the last week’s poem. As much as he was cynical toward the young men venturing to the frontier, he is also cynical about the Chinese people’s struggle against the northern barbarians.

In the Han era, it was customary for soldiers on a conquest to the North to let horses drink water before crossing the Great Wall. Wang Changling lets his horse drink water too, just as they did before going to the wars. He looks at Lintao, a province, but it appears only “dimly”. Though everyone who went to war “was in high spirits”, now they are all “scattered among mugworts” as “white skeletons”. Nothing remains but the “yellow sand” which is “enough for now and past”.

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