飲馬長城窟行

飲馬長城窟，

水寒傷馬骨。

往謂長城吏，

慎莫稽留太原卒。

官作自有程，

舉筑諧汝聲。

男兒寧當格斗死，

何能怫郁筑長城？

長城何連連，

連連三千里。

邊城多健少，

內(nèi)舍多寡婦。

作書與內(nèi)舍，

便嫁莫留住。

善事新姑嫜，

時時念我故夫子。

報書往邊地，

君今出語一何鄙!

身在禍難中，

何為稽留他家子？

生男慎莫舉，

生女哺用脯。

君獨不見長城下，

死人骸骨相撐拄？

結(jié)發(fā)行事君，

慊慊心意關。

明知邊地苦，

賤妾何能久自全？

I Water My Horse at a Spring by the Great Wall

I water my horse at a spring by the Great Wall,

so cold, the water pains his bones.

Some men were pleading with the off icer in charge:

“Please don’t let us Taiyuanese get stuck here. ”

“Government works all take their schedule,” he replied,

“so raise those rammers with your songs. ”

A man should die in f ighting,

how can he in depression build the Wall?

The Great Wall, that stretches on and on,

three thousand miles long.

On the frontier there are many strong young men,

and many widows stay at home alone.

I wrote a letter to my wife,

“Marry another man, do not linger;

take a good care of your new in-laws,

and think occasionally of your old man. ”

She sent her reply to the frontier:

“How heartless are your words, my lord!”

“Now that I am in deep misfortune,

how can I let another’s daughter linger for me?

If you have a boy, don’t bother raising him;

if you have a girl, give her dried meat to eat.

Don’t you not see there, under the Wall

dead men’s skeletons stacked up in heaps? ”

“When I tied up my hair to become your wife,” she wrote,

“I gave my heart to you in respect.

I know too well the sufferings at the frontier,

how can your humble wife survive by herself for long? ”