兵車行 杜甫

兵車行      杜甫 (712 - 770 )

車轔轔，馬蕭蕭，行人弓箭各在腰。
爺娘妻子走相送，塵埃不見咸陽橋。
牽衣頓足攔道哭，哭聲直上干雲霄。
道旁過者問行人，行人但云點行頻。
或從十五北防河，便至四十西營田。
去時里正與裹頭，歸來頭白還戍邊。
邊亭流血成海水，武皇開邊意未已。
君不聞漢家山東二百州，千村萬落生荊杞。
縱有健婦把鋤犁，禾生隴畝無東西。
況復秦兵耐苦戰，被驅不異犬與雞。
長者雖有問，役夫敢申恨？
且如今年冬，未休關西卒。
縣官急索租，租稅從何出？
信知生男惡，反是生女好。
生女猶得嫁比鄰，生男埋沒隨百草。
君不見青海頭，古來白骨無人收。
新鬼煩怨舊鬼哭，天陰雨濕聲啾啾。

Ballad of the army carts          Du Fu (712 - 770 )

The carts rumble, rumble,

The horses wail, wail,
The draftees, each with a bow and arrows at their waist, on they shuffle,
Their fathers, mothers, wives and children run by them to bid them adieu,
Dust covers everywhere, the Xianyang Bridge is hardly visible,
They pluck at the men’s clothes, weeping in the way, their feet trample,
The sound of their weeping rises up to the sky high aloft,
Asks the draftees a passer-by,
They reply: Recently they keep mobilize,
Some of us went north at fifteen to guard the River,
At forty, we are still sent to the west military farms to toil and moil,
When we left as lads, the village headman had to help us have our heads muffled,
We came back white-headed, we are still sent to the frontier to be responsible,
On those frontier posts, enough blood to fill the sea has already flowed,
But the Emperor’s dreams of expansion remain unfolded,
Sir, haven’t you heard that in our land of Han, throughout the two hundred prefectures east of the mountains,
Thousands of little hamlets are overgrown with briers and brambles,
And though many a capable wife gives a helping hand to toil with the hoe,
Crops just do not know where to grow,
As division of fields is no more discernible,
It’s even worse for the men from Qin, formidable and endurable,
Like dogs and chickens they are constantly drivable,
You are very kind to ask us, sir,
We are not in a position to say how much we are resentful,
Take this year for example,
The Guanxi troops are still not returnable,
District officers are already pressing for the land tolls,
But how can that be payable?
To have sons is really pitiable,
Far better it’s to have girls,
Daughters are, at least, to the neighbours marriable,
A son’s born only to die amid the grasses without even a burial,
Can’t you see on the shores of Kohonor the white bones have lain from of old and never shovelled?
The new ghosts complain and the old ghosts weep,
Under the gloomily dripping sky, the air is full of their mournful warbles.