47. After an Old Tale

A poem by Li Qi, translated by Hyun Woo Kim

The man's job is to leave for a grand conquest!

At a young age, I became a wanderer in Youyan.

I would contend for victory under the horses' hooves,

As I have always taken my seven chi lightly.

When I killed men, no one dared to come up front;

My beard was as stiff as the spines of a hedgehog.

Yellow clouds under the hills and white drifting snow;

I cannot go back since I am yet to return the favor.

A young lady of Liaodong, whose age is fifteen,

Can sing and dance, skilled with strumming mandolin.

Today she plays Leaving for the Frontier with a flute of Qiang,

Making our soldiers of the Three Armies drop tears like rain.

「古意」

男兒事長征

少小幽燕客

賭勝馬蹄下

由來輕七尺

殺人莫敢前

鬚如蝟毛磔

黃雲隴底白雪飛

未得報恩不能歸

遼東小婦年十五

慣彈琵琶解歌舞

今爲羗笛出塞聲

使我三軍淚如雨

From Hyun Woo:

While I absolutely love today’s poem, it was quite tough to translate. Broadly speaking, its atmosphere takes a sharp turn after the first six lines, and this clear contrast is what makes the poem especially attractive.

In short, the poetic narrator is a tough guy, who makes such claims like “the man’s job is to leave for a grand conquest!” without hesitation. He would fight “under the horses’ hooves”, taking his “seven chi” lightly. Seven chi is a bit less than six feet, an idiom referring to one’s body or life.

It all changes when he sees “yellow clouds” and “white drifting snow” one day. The “yellow clouds” are understood as clouds of dust, likely formed because of battles. He perceives a certain distinction between those two, which leads him to reexamine the life he has lived since “a young age”, the life amidst those “yellow clouds”. Experiencing an inner conflict, he tries to hold himself together by saying “I cannot go back since I am yet to return the favor”: that is, he still feels obliged to the emperor.

However, the last blow comes from “a young lady of Liaodong”. She plays the song “Leaving for the Frontier”, reminding everyone of the day they left for the frontier, leaving everything behind. This ends in all the soldiers dropping “tears like rain”. They are strong men who belong to the “Three Armies”, an expression used to refer to the imperial force, but cannot help breaking down and crying.

If you enjoyed my work, you can buy me a cup of tea. I am not a coffee person, by the way.