出塞
Qín秦shí时míng yuè明月hàn汉shí时guān关，
wàn lǐ万里cháng zhēng长征rén人wèi未hái还。
dàn但shǐ使Lóng chéng龙城fēi飞jiāng将zài在，
bù不jiāo教hú胡mǎ马dù度Yīn shān阴山。
Line by line
- 秦时明月汉时关，秦時明月漢時關， The moon of Qin, the passes of Han —
- 万里长征人未还。萬里長征人未還。 the men of the long march have not returned.
- 但使龙城飞将在，但使龍城飛將在， Were the Flying General of Dragon City still here,
- 不教胡马度阴山。不教胡馬度陰山。 no nomad horse would cross the Yin Mountains.
The poet & the story
Wang Changling (698–757) was the Tang master of the frontier quatrain. This poem was praised by later critics as the finest of all Tang seven-character jueju; its opening line, joining the moon of Qin to the passes of Han, telescopes seven centuries of border war into fourteen characters.
Interpretation
The bright moon of Qin still shines on the passes of Han; the men who marched ten thousand li have not returned. If only the “Flying General” of Dragon City were here, no enemy horse would cross the Yin Mountains. Behind the bravado lies grief: the wars never end, and the soldiers never come home.