by Du Fu (Tang Dynasty)
Carts rumble, horses neigh –
Soldiers march with bows and arrows at their waists.
Fathers, mothers, wives, and children run to see them off;
Dust swirls so thick the Xianyang Bridge disappears from sight.
They clutch garments, stamp feet, block the road, and wail –
Their cries pierce straight through to the clouds.
A bystander asks a conscript why this keeps happening.
He replies: “Conscription never stops.
Some are drafted at fifteen to guard the northern river;
By forty, they’re sent west to till military farms.
When they left, village elders wrapped their headscarves for them;
Now white-haired, they’re still sent back to the frontier.”
Blood on the border has turned seas red –
Yet the Martial Emperor’s hunger for new territory knows no end.
Haven’t you heard?
East of the mountains, two hundred prefectures of Han China –
Ten thousand villages lie overgrown with thorns and brambles.
Even if strong women take up plow and hoe,
Crops grow wild – no rows, no order.
And Qin soldiers? They’re hardened to suffering,
Driven like dogs or chickens to war.
An elder may ask, but how dare a conscript voice his grief?
Just this winter, troops west of the Pass still haven’t been relieved.
Yet local officials urgently demand taxes –
But with fields abandoned, where will the tax come from?
Now we truly know:
Having sons is a curse – better to have daughters!
A daughter can marry a neighbor nearby;
A son will die nameless, buried among wild grasses.
Haven’t you seen?
By the shores of Qinghai,
Since ancient times, white bones lie unburied.
New ghosts lament in anguish; old ghosts weep –
On gloomy, rain-soaked days, their mournful cries whisper endlessly!
Note
“The Conscripts” (The War Chariots) is a narrative poem written by Du Fu, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty. The poem is divided into two parts by the line “a passer-by by the roadside asks the conscript.” The first part depicts the miserable scene of farewell, serving as a record of events; the second part conveys the grievances of the conscripts, serving as a record of words.
The poem possesses profound ideological content. Through the conscript’s response to the elder, it voices the people’s hatred of war and exposes the immense suffering brought upon the people by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang’s long-standing militarism and years of incessant warfare.
“The War Chariots”, the first anti-war poem Du Fu ever wrote for the people, bleeds with every word and wails with every line, profoundly reflecting the suffering war brings to the people and revealing Du Fu’s deep concern for his nation and its people.
《兵车行》唐·杜甫
车辚辚，马萧萧，行人弓箭各在腰。
耶娘妻子走相送，尘埃不见咸阳桥。
牵衣顿足拦道哭，哭声直上干云霄。
道旁过者问行人，行人但云点行频。
或从十五北防河，便至四十西营田。
去时里正与裹头，归来头白还戍边。
边庭流血成海水，武皇开边意未已。
君不闻汉家山东二百州，千村万落生荆杞。
纵有健妇把锄犁，禾生陇亩无东西。
况复秦兵耐苦战，被驱不异犬与鸡。
长者虽有问，役夫敢申恨？
且如今年冬，未休关西卒。
县官急索租，租税从何出？
信知生男恶，反是生女好。
生女犹得嫁比邻，生男埋没随百草。
君不见，青海头，古来白骨无人收。
新鬼烦冤旧鬼哭，天阴雨湿声啾啾！
Leave a Reply