饮马长城窟行

饮马长城窟，

水寒伤马骨。

往谓长城吏，

慎莫稽留太原卒。

官作自有程，

举筑谐汝声。

男儿宁当格斗死，

何能怫郁筑长城？

长城何连连，

连连三千里。

边城多健少，

内舍多寡妇。

作书与内舍，

便嫁莫留住。

善事新姑嫜，

时时念我故夫子。

报书往边地，

君今出语一何鄙!

身在祸难中，

何为稽留他家子？

生男慎莫举，

生女哺用脯。

君独不见长城下，

死人骸骨相撑拄？

结发行事君，

慊慊心意关。

明知边地苦，

贱妾何能久自全？

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? ”