Nineteen Old Poems, No 13
translated by Ad Blankestijn
I drive my chariot through the Upper East Gate,
from far away I see the graves north of the wall.
White poplars rustle desolately,
pines and cypresses flank broad lanes.
Beneath them lie the dead,
dark is their long night,
deep down beneath the Yellow Springs,
thousands of years without awakening.
Grand is the course of Yin and Yang,
but our destiny is like the morning dew,
human life is just a short stay
without the firmness of metal or stone.
The Supreme Ruler even is carried out,
no saint who can redeem us.
Those who desire immortality through pills,
as a rule are poisoned by their own drugs.
It is best to drink fine wine,
and to dress in choice silk.
古詩十九首之十三《驅車上東門》
驅車上東門，遙望郭北墓。
白楊何蕭蕭，松柏夾廣路。
下有陳死人，杳杳即長暮。
潛寐黃泉下，千載永不寤。
浩浩陰陽移，年命如朝露。
人生忽如寄，壽無金石固。
萬歲更相送，賢聖莫能度。
服食求神仙，多為藥所誤。
不如飲美酒，被服紈與素。
[Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor]
Nineteen Old Poems (Gushi Shijiushou) is an anthology of 19 anonymous poems, which stems from the late 2nd century CE, towards the end of the later Han-period. They are the earliest examples of the continuous use of the five-syllable verse in Chinese poetry. Not only for that formal reason, but also because of their content and themes they have been very influential on later poetry. They were included in the famous Wenxuan literary anthology of about 520 CE, which enhanced their influence. The authorship of the "Nineteen Old Poems" is anonymous, but the material circumstances mentioned as well as the literary reference to the Shijing, point at an educated member (or members) of the upper classes.
[Jade Shroud. Eastern Han Dynasty, 160 AD.
Henan Provincial Museum, Zhengzhou]
As a dominant theme, the
transience of life runs like a red thread through the cycle: while in
some poems it is expressed indirectly in the woman's longing for her
distant lover, in others we find the blunt encouragement to enjoy life
in the face of death (as in the above poem). The basic tone remains always sad and melancholy.
In the above poem the speaker rides out of the city gates, looks at the tombs arrayed outside the city, and reflects on the brevity of life, ending on a sentiment of carpe diem (as we also saw in Horace and Martial in this series).
Notes:
The Upper East gate was the northernmost of the three gates in the east wall of the city of Luoyang. The graves are located on Beimang Hill north of the city.
The Yellow Springs is the Chinese Hades, the land of the dead.
"The dupe of strange drugs:" longevity medicines containing mercury and other dangerous substances often brought death instead of life.
The above translation is my own.
Translations:
17 of the 19 poems have been translated by Arthur Waley in A Hundred and Seventy Poems from the Chinese (public domain, available at Guitenberg).
By Stepen Owen in An Anthology of Chinese Literature (No XIII is on p. 260)
Les Dix-neuf Poèmes anciens, texte établi, traduit et annoté par Jean-Pierre Diény, Paris, Belles Lettres, 2010. (Texte chinois et traduction française.)
Study:
Burton Watson, CHINESE LYRICISM: Shih Poetry from the Second to the Twelfth Century, New York, Columbia University Press, 1971.
Chinese text at Gutenberg.
Photos: via Wikimedia Commons