Nefarious War
by Li Po
Translated from the Chinese by Shigeyoshi Obata
Last year we fought by the head-stream of the So-Kan,
This year we are fighting on the Tsung-ho road.
We have washed our armor in the waves of the Chiao-chi lake,
We have pastured our horses on Tien-shan’s snowy slopes.
The long, long war goes on ten thousand miles from home.
Our three armies are worn and grown old.
The barbarian does man-slaughter for plowing;
On his yellow sand-plains nothing has been seen but blanched skulls and bones.
Where the Chin emperor built the walls against the Tartars,
There the defenders of Han are burning beacon fires.
The beacon fires burn and never go out.
There is no end to war!—
In the battlefield men grapple each other and die;
The horses of the vanquished utter lamentable cries to heaven,
While ravens and kites peck at human entrails,
Carry them up in their flight, and hang them on the branches of dead trees.
So, men are scattered and smeared over the desert grass,
And the generals have accomplished nothing.
Oh, nefarious war! I see why arms
Were so seldom used by the benign sovereigns.
great choice! i found a volume of his in my high school one year and fell in love. do you know the story of his death? i wrote him a tribute, years ago:
‘the long death
Liquor-drip, he stumble out.
The river murmurs warm below.
The night as still as a dead woman
Somewhere inland, wrapt and silent–
So drips the slow thought of Li Po.
At a certain point – tonight – decides
Him: give over the world, the endless
Land of China, sweet with trees and the dead.
Find a river, run it out.
Get drunk and make love to the moon.’Report
Whose translations are these? If they are yours, please say so – if not, give credit where it is due, to the translator.Report
Good point, Nick T. The problem is that I found this poem (public domain) on a public website that fails to credit the translator. Please give me a little time to investigate and I’ll get back to this with an update.Report
Done.Report
Thanks, Freddie. My guess would be Arthur Waley, since the poem uses the older Wade-Giles transliteration, rather than the modern pinyin.Report