The 300 Tang Dynasty Poems, #38: The Moon at the Fortified Pass

The Tang Dynasty was a high point in Chinese culture. Poetry was especially esteemed. No occasion; no homecoming or leaving taking was too insignificant to be commemorated in a poem. The best examples of the poetry of the age are collected in the classic, 300 Tang Dynasty Poems.

Below is #38, The Moon at the Fortified Pass

Li Bai

THE MOON AT THE FORTIFIED PASS

The bright moon lifts from the Mountain of Heaven
In an infinite haze of cloud and sea,
And the wind, that has come a thousand miles,
Beats at the Jade Pass battlements....
China marches its men down Baideng Road
While Tartar troops peer across blue waters of the bay....
And since not one battle famous in history
Sent all its fighters back again,
The soldiers turn round, looking toward the border,
And think of home, with wistful eyes,
And of those tonight in the upper chambers
Who toss and sigh and cannot rest.