凉州词涼州詞
Huáng Hé黄河yuǎn远shǎng上bái yún白云jiān间，
yī一piān片gū孤chéng城mò万rèn仞shān山。
Qiāng dí羌笛hé xū何须yuàn怨yáng liǔ杨柳，
chūn fēng春风bù不dù度Yù mén Guān玉门关。
Line by line
- 黄河远上白云间，黃河遠上白雲間， The Yellow River climbs far into the white clouds;
- 一片孤城万仞山。一片孤城萬仞山。 a lone walled fort amid peaks ten thousand spans high.
- 羌笛何须怨杨柳，羌笛何須怨楊柳， Why should the Qiang flute lament the parting willows? —
- 春风不度玉门关。春風不度玉門關。 the spring wind never crosses Jade Gate Pass.
The poet & the story
Wang Zhihuan (688–742) left only six poems, two of them immortal — this frontier song and “Climbing Stork Tower”. “Liangzhou” was a tune-title for songs of the far northwest, where soldiers served years from home along the desert garrisons.
Interpretation
The Yellow River seems to climb into the white clouds; a single walled fort stands among ten-thousand-foot peaks. Why should the Qiang flute grieve over the willows of parting? The spring wind, the poem says, never reaches past Jade Gate Pass — out here, beyond the empire’s edge, even spring does not come.