Sad State Of Affairs

昨夜明月夜長風, from the previous poem was too good to be relegated into the dusty corridors of the mind. After some thinking, it was morphed into something different when 風 became 烽. So, my first foray into a poem about war…

1 遠見城池夜長烽 From afar, beacon fires alight the city and moat throughout the night,
2 草原飛箭雨淋紅 Arrows came flying from the grass steppes raining in blood.
3 東西二京焰重演 Twin capitals of the east and west came burning as if in reenactment,
4 震破難眠國憂夢 Shaken awake by worrying dreams of the nation – ‘tis hardly the time for sweet slumbering.

2 From the north, the traditional place where invasions took place. Hence the Chinese were never prepared when “invasions” came from the east from the ocean.

3 The first four characters were taken the Thousand Character Classic. During the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang was known as the eastern capital 洛陽東都 or the Divine Capital, 神都 known during Empress Wu’s times. Chang An was the western capital. From this line, we can assume the poem is about the An Lu Shan rebellion.

4 Translating literally won’t be as heartfelt.

Friday, September 15, 2023