Partridge Sky: A Guest Spoke of Fame; I Recall My Youth

In my strong years banners thronged about ten thousand men; in brocaded coats my charging horsemen crossed the river in those early days. The troops of Yan at night readied their silver quivers; at dawn the Han warriors sent their Jinpugu arrows flying.

I look back on what is past and sigh over the man I am now: the spring wind cannot restore the colour to these white whiskers of mine. Instead I take my ten-thousand-word plan for subduing the Rong, and barter it with the neighbor to the east for a book on planting trees.