Lǒng Xī XíngSong of Longxi 陇西行
Chen Tao: the dead soldier still alive in his wife's dreams.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
誓扫匈奴不顾身
shì sǎo xiōng nú bù gù shēn
五千貂锦丧胡尘
wǔ qiān diāo jǐn sàng hú chén
可怜无定河边骨
kě lián wú dìng hé biān gǔ
犹是春闺梦里人
yóu shì chūn guī mèng lǐ rén
Simplified characters; traditional title: 隴西行.
English translation
They swore to sweep the Xiongnu, heedless of their lives;
Five thousand in sable and brocade fell in barbarian dust.
Pity the bones beside the Wuding River—
They are still the men dreamed of in spring chambers.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
The first couplet is heroic, soldiers in fine uniforms swearing to defeat the enemy, and ends in "dust." The second couplet brings the cost home with devastating irony: their bones lie by the river, while their wives, not knowing, still dream of them. The two places — battlefield and bedroom — are joined by a single word, "still."
Background
The second of four poems by Chen Tao with this title, using an old frontier-song title. Longxi lies in today's Gansu.
Key words
- 匈奴 Xiōngnú
- the Xiongnu, northern nomads
- 貂锦 diāo jǐn
- sable and brocade, i.e. elite troops
- 春闺 chūn guī
- a wife's chamber in spring
About the poet: Chen Tao
Chen Tao was a Late Tang poet who failed the examinations and lived as a recluse. One quatrain about the dead of the frontier wars has kept his name alive.
Lifetime: c. 812–885. Other famous works: Song of Longxi (陇西行).