The sky is high, the clouds are pale,

Chill waves sweep through steep skies,Yet earth’s gentle breath grows warm.Only heroes can quell tigers and leopardsAnd wild bears never daunt the brave.Plum blossoms welcome the whirling snow;Small wonder flies freeze and perish.

Coming from afar to view our old haunt, I find new scenes replacing the old.Everywhere orioles sing, swallows dart,Streams babbleAnd the road mounts skyward.Once Huangyangchieh is passedNo other perilous place calls for a glance.Wind and thunder are stirring,Flags and banners are flyingWherever men live.Thirty-eight years are fledWith a mere snap of the fingers.We can clasp…

Humming without cease,Sometimes shrilling,Sometimes moaning.Ants on the locust tree assume a great-nation swaggerAnd mayflies lightly plot to topple the giant tree.The west wind scatters leaves over Changan,And the arrows are flying, twanging.So many deeds cry out to be done,And always urgently;The world rolls on,Time presses.Ten thousand years are too long,Seize the day, seize the hour!The…

Now I am swimming across the great Yangtze,Looking afar to the open sky of Chu.Let the wind blow and waves beat,Better far than idly strolling in a courtyard.Today I am at ease.‘It was by a stream that the Master said‘Thus do things flow away!’ ‘Sails move with the wind.Tortoise and Snake are still.Great plans are…

I turn my head startled,The sky is three foot three above me!Mountains!Like great waves surging in a crashing sea,Like a thousand stallionsIn full gallop in the heat of battle.Mountains!Piercing the blue of heaven, your barbs unblunted!The skies would fallBut for your strength supporting.

The foe encircles us thousands strong,Steadfastly we stand our ground.Already our defence is iron-clad,Now our wills unite like a fortress.From Huangyangchieh roars the thunder of guns,Word comes the enemy has fled into the night.