Bai Juyi: Overnight at a Mt. Zige Northern Mountain Village

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Overnight at a Mt. Zige Northern Mountain Village

宿 紫 阁 山 北 村
晨 游 紫 阁 峰
暮 宿 山 下 村.
村 老 见 予 喜
为 予 开 一 樽。
举 杯 未 乃 饮
暴 卒 来 入 门。
紫 衣 挟 刀 斧
草 草 十 余 人。
夺 我 席 上 酒
掣 我 盘 中 飧。
主 人 退 后 立
敛 手 反 如 宾。
中 庭 有 奇 树
种 来 三 十 春。
主 人 惜 不 得
持 斧 断 其 根。
口 称 采 造 家
身 属 神 策 军。
主 人 慎 勿 语
中 尉 正 承 恩。

 

Su Zi Ge Shan Bei Cun

Chen you zi ge feng
Mu su shan xia cun.
Cun lao jian yu xi
Wei yu kai yi zun.

Ju bei wei nai yin
Bao zu lai ru men.
Zi yi xie dao fu
Cao cao shi yu ren.

Duo wo xi shang jiu
Che wo pan zhong sun.
Zhu ren tui hou li
Lian shou fan ru bin.

Zhong ting you qi shu
Zhong lai san shi chun.
Zhu ren xi bu de
Chi fu duan qi gen.

Kou chen cai zao jia
Shen shu shen ce jun.
Zhu ren shen wu yu
Zhong wei zheng cheng en.

 

Overnight at a Mt. Zige Northern Mountain Village

Morning walk into the Mt. Zige peaks
Sunset, seek an overnight place in the mountain foothill village.
Met an old man, seeing who I was brought him joy
He opened one wine vessel to give to me as a guest.

Before food we raised our cups to drink
Suddenly loud fierce local officials enter the gate.                                        Wearing purple uniforms, swords and battleaxes under their arms
Carelessly and wild, more than ten came in.

Seized my host and asked for more wine
Pulled away plates of food from the middle dinner table.
My host retreated to a hidden corner
Hands restrained like he was the guest.

Middle courtyard has unique trees
One was planted over thirty springs ago.
Host valued these trees too much to harvest them
Holding onto their battleaxes, the invaders cut into the roots.

Told him in words only, this tree was needed for palace construction
Supposedly they were descendants of the Shen Ce army.
Old man prudently uttered no words
Show them minimum kindness as they were palace insiders.

 

Notes:

Shen Ce army: Before the An Lushan rebellion of 756 AD, this was a unit that fought on the frontier against the northern nomads.

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