Ballad of the Old General
English translation and interpretation are being reviewed.
步行夺得胡马骑。
射杀山中白额虎，
肯数邺下黄须儿！
一身转战三千里，
一剑曾当百万师。
汉兵奋迅如霹雳，
虏骑崩腾畏蒺藜。
卫青不败由天幸，
李广无功缘数奇。
自从弃置便衰朽，
世事蹉跎成白首。
昔时飞箭无全目，
今日垂杨生左肘。
路旁时卖故侯瓜，
门前学种先生柳。
苍茫古木连穷巷，
寥落寒山对虚牖。
誓令疏勒出飞泉，
不似颍川空使酒。
贺兰山下阵如云，
羽檄交驰日夕闻。
节使三河募年少，
诏书五道出将军。
试拂铁衣如雪色，
聊持宝剑动星文。
愿得燕弓射大将，
耻令越甲鸣吾君。
莫嫌旧日云中守，
犹堪一战取功勋。
English translation
At fifteen, at twenty, on foot he seized a Hu horse and rode it.
He shot and killed the white-browed tiger in the hills; how could he count the yellow-whiskered lad of Ye?
Alone he fought on through three thousand leagues; one sword once stood against a million troops.
The Han soldiers surged swift as thunderbolt; the barbarian riders broke and scattered, fearing the caltrops.
Wei Qing was never defeated by heaven's favor; Li Guang won no merit because his fortune was crooked.
Since he was set aside he has grown weak and worn; the world's ways went awry and his hair turned white.
Once his flying arrows left no whole eye; now a willow grows at his left elbow.
By the roadside he sometimes sells the melons of the former marquis; before his gate he learns to plant the willows of the Master.
Ancient trees, dim and vast, run on to the poor lane; a lonely cold hill faces an empty window.
He swears to bring a flying spring out of Shule; he will not be like the man of Yingchuan who only vented himself on wine.
Beneath Helan Mountain the battle-lines are massed like clouds; feathered dispatches race to and fro, heard morning and evening.
The commissioner recruits young men in the Three Rivers; the edict sends generals forth by five roads.
He tries wiping his iron armor till it is the color of snow, and lightly takes the precious sword whose star-pattern stirs.
He would get a Yan bow to shoot the great general; he would be ashamed to let the Yue armor threaten his lord.
Do not despise the former governor of Yunzhong — he is still fit to fight one battle and win glory.
Meaning
When he was fifteen or twenty, in the flower of his youth, he could seize a Hu horse on foot and ride it off.
Strong and in his prime, he shot the white-browed tiger in the hills; among heroes, who but the Yellow-Bearded Lad of Ye?
He passed through a hundred battles and galloped three thousand li of field; once with a single sword he stood against a million troops.
The Han army's onset was swift as crashing thunder; the barbarian riders trampled one another in fear of the caltrops.
Wei Qing was never defeated because the gods of heaven aided him; Li Guang won no rank because his destiny was unkind.
Cast aside and left unused, he began to decay; as the world passed on, his hair has turned white.
Once, like Houyi, he shot a sparrow and struck no eye; now he cannot draw a bow, and a tumor grows on his left elbow.
Like the former marquis fallen to common estate who sells melons by the roadside, or like Magistrate Tao planting green willows before his gate.
Ancient trees stretch dim and gray down to the deep lane; the lonely cold hills face an empty, chilly window.
He swears to follow Geng Gong, who prayed for a well at Shule and found water; he will not be like Guan Fu of Yingchuan.
Background
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In 737 (the twenty-fifth year of the Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang), Wang Wei was appointed investigating censor and sent beyond the frontier on an official mission; serving as administrative secretary to the military governor under Cui Xiyi, the deputy military governor of Hexi at Liangzhou, he spent a year of military life there. During this period he went deep into the life of the soldiers and moved among the officers, discovering that the army too contained many abuses. This poem reflects precisely those abuses.