兵车行

李白

车辚辚
马萧萧
行人弓箭各在腰
耶娘妻子走相送
尘埃不见咸阳桥
牵衣顿足拦道哭
哭声直上干云霄
道旁过者问行人
行人但云点行频
或从十五北防河
便至四十西营田
去时里正与裹头
归来头白还戍边
边廷流血成海水
武皇开边意未已
君不闻汉家山东二百州
千村万落生荆杞
纵有健妇把锄犁
禾生陇亩无东西
况复秦兵耐苦战
被驱不异犬与鸡
长者虽有问
役夫敢伸恨
且如今年冬
未休关西卒
县官急索租
租税从何出
信知生男恶
反是生女好
生女犹得嫁比邻
生男埋没随百草
君不见青海头

古来白骨无人收
新鬼烦冤旧鬼哭
天阴雨湿声啾啾

Song Of The Conscripts

Li Bai

Chariots rumble
and horses grumble.
The conscripts march with bow and arrows at the waist.
Their fathers, mothers, wives and children come in haste
To see them off; the bridge is shrouded in dust they've raised.
They clutch at the men's coats and stamp and bar the way;
Their grief cries loud and strikes the cloud straight, straightaway.
Another onlooker by roadside asks an enrollee,
"The conscription is frequent," only answers he.
"Some went north at fifteen to guard the rivershore
And were sent west to till the land at forty-four.
The elder bound their young heads when they went away;
Just home, they're sent to the frontier though their hair's grey.
The field on borderland becomes a sea of blood;
The emperor's greed for land is still at high blood.
Have you not heard two hundred districts east of the Hua Mountain lie
Where briers and brambles grow in villages far and night?
Although stout women can wield the plough and the hoe,
They know not east from west where thorns and weeds o'ergrow.
The enemy are used to hard and stubborn fight:
Our men are driven just like dogs or fowls in flight.
You are kind to ask me.
To complain I'm not free.
In winter of this year
Conscription goes on here.
The magistrates for taxes press;
How can we pay them in distress!
If we had known sons bring no joy,
We'd have preferred girl to boy.
A daughter can be married to a neighbour, alas!
A son can only be buried under the grass!
Have you not seen
On borders green
Bleached bones since olden days unburied on the plain?
The old ghosts weep and cry, while the new ghosts complain;
The air is loud with screech and scream in gloomy rain."