<Header>
<Author: 李商隱>
<Title: 韓碑>
<Format: 七言古詩>
<Year: 1987>
<BookName: 300 Tang Poems: A New Translation>
<Translator: 許淵冲, 陸佩弦, 吳鈞陶>
<TranslatedTitle: The Han Yu Memorial Stele>
<BookPage: 333-338>
<UsedPage: 6>
<Feature: 1, 4>
<End Header>
<Poem>
元和天子神武姿，
彼何人哉軒與羲。
誓將上雪列聖恥，
坐法宮中朝四夷。
淮西有賊五十載，
封狼生貙貙生羆。
不據山河據平地，
長戈利矛日可麾。
帝得聖相相曰度，
賊斫不死神扶持。
腰懸相印作都統，
陰風慘澹天王旗。
愬武古通作牙爪，
儀曹外郎載筆隨。
行軍司馬智且勇，
十四萬衆猶虎貔。
入蔡縛賊獻太廟，
功無與讓恩不訾。
帝曰汝度功第一，
汝從事愈宜爲辭。
愈拜稽首蹈且舞，
金石刻畫臣能爲。
古者世稱大手筆，
此事不繫于職司。
當仁自古有不讓，
言訖屢頷天子頤。
公退齋戒坐小閣，
濡染大筆何淋漓。
點竄堯典舜典字，
塗改清廟生民詩。
文成破體書在紙，
清晨再拜鋪丹墀。
表曰臣愈昧死上，
詠神聖功書之碑。
碑高三丈字如斗，
負以靈鼇蟠以螭。
句奇語重喻者少，
讒之天子言其私。
長繩百尺拽碑倒，
麤砂大石相磨治。
公之斯文若元氣，
先時已入人肝脾。
湯盤孔鼎有述作，
今無其器存其辭。
嗚呼聖皇及聖相，
相與烜赫流淳熙。
公之斯文不示後，
曷與三五相攀追。
願書萬本誦萬過，
口角流沫右手胝。
傳之七十有二代，
以爲封禪玉檢明堂基。
<End Poem>
<Translation>
Our Emp'ror of Yuanho, O see,
To whom could he compared be,
So gallant and God-like as he? –
None but ancient Titans like Xuan and Xi.
He pledged to wipe off every shame of his forefathers,
Throned in court for envoys from all quarterst.

Huaixi was a rebels' den for fifty years.
Where wolves bred lynxes and lynxes bears.
They seized not rivers not mountains,
But open plains instead;
With swords long and spears sharpened,
They could hurl the sun back.

But the Emperor had a premier called Du – a sage,
Who had survived a rebel's knife with God's grace.
Premier's seal on his girdle hanging,
He too held field command;
Imperial banners, awe-inspiring,
Fluttered over a grim land.
Su, Wu, Gu Tong aided as a pair of pincers that crushes;
Secretary of Rites followed with his writing brushes.
His adviser and aide-de-camp,
A man of wisdom and valour;
His hundred-forty thousand strong,
All fought like a panther.
After a raid on Cai, the rebels' chief was fettered,
To the Ancestral Temple he was brought and offered,
Du's feats of arms were as matchless
As the Emperor's grace was boundless!

His Majesty declared:
"Du, you rank first in merits.
Let your aid Yu sing your exploits."
Yu bowed deep, kotowed and danced in court rites:
"Panegyrics on stone or metal I could write.
For ages dubbed as magnum opus,
They belong to no official onus.
As the age-old proverb decrees:
I 'shirk no great task if need be'."
Upon this, His Majesty
Nodded assent repeatedly.
Yu retired, fasted and bathed,
And in a small sanctum he sate.

His big brush ink-soaked,
How eloquently he wrote!
He mended and revised
With Annuals of Yao and Shun as norm;
He arduously aspired
To the Book of Songs to conform.
Now the writing complete
In a freer script he wrote on a sheet.
At sunrise, on the vermilion court steps
Bowing and kneeling he had it spread.
To His Majesty reported he:
"Your servant Yu venture thus to speak."

The tribute to the sacred feats
Was now inscribed on a stele.
A monument thirty feet tall,
Each word was as big as a bowl.
With dragon designs engirdled,
It was supported by a stone turtle.
So solemn and wondrous was the wording
That few ever got its full meaning.
Slanders gained the Emperor's ear:
"For foul intent Yu had been unfair."
With ropes hundred feet long,
Down the stele was tumbled;
Rough sand on huge stone milling along,
The words were all crumbled.
But Yu's writing,
Like the breath of life, cosmo-old,
Had permeated men's heart and soul.
The Tang Tub and Kong Tripod had mottoes inscribed;
Though the vessels are gone, the words have survived.

Alas, the Emperor and his Premier,
Both able and virtuous,
Their fame would jointly endure –
Pure, mighty and illustrious.
Should this work of Yu's be lost hereafter,
How could they vie in splendors
With the Five or Three Emperors?
Fain would I copy it thousand and one times,
Till calluses on my right hand grow;
Fain would I chime it just as oft times,
Till spit from my mouth began to flow.
May the stele with its inscriptions
Be handed down to seventy-two generations,
As the Jade Label, as a cornerstone we dedicate
To the Grand Hall of the State!
<End Translation>
<Formatted Translation>
Our Emp'ror of Yuanho, O see, To whom could he compared be, So gallant and God-like as he? –
None but ancient Titans like Xuan and Xi.
He pledged to wipe off every shame of his forefathers,
Throned in court for envoys from all quarterst.

Huaixi was a rebels' den for fifty years.
Where wolves bred lynxes and lynxes bears.
They seized not rivers not mountains, But open plains instead;
With swords long and spears sharpened, They could hurl the sun back.

But the Emperor had a premier called Du – a sage,
Who had survived a rebel's knife with God's grace.
Premier's seal on his girdle hanging, He too held field command;
Imperial banners, awe-inspiring, Fluttered over a grim land.
Su, Wu, Gu Tong aided as a pair of pincers that crushes;
Secretary of Rites followed with his writing brushes. His adviser and aide-de-camp,
A man of wisdom and valour;
His hundred-forty thousand strong, All fought like a panther.
After a raid on Cai, the rebels' chief was fettered, To the Ancestral Temple he was brought and offered,
Du's feats of arms were as matchless As the Emperor's grace was boundless!

His Majesty declared: "Du, you rank first in merits.
Let your aid Yu sing your exploits."
Yu bowed deep, kotowed and danced in court rites:
"Panegyrics on stone or metal I could write.
For ages dubbed as magnum opus,
They belong to no official onus.
As the age-old proverb decrees: I 'shirk no great task if need be'."
Upon this, His Majesty Nodded assent repeatedly.
Yu retired, fasted and bathed, And in a small sanctum he sate.

His big brush ink-soaked, How eloquently he wrote!
He mended and revised With Annuals of Yao and Shun as norm;
He arduously aspired To the Book of Songs to conform.
Now the writing complete In a freer script he wrote on a sheet.
At sunrise, on the vermilion court steps Bowing and kneeling he had it spread.
To His Majesty reported he: "Your servant Yu venture thus to speak."

The tribute to the sacred feats Was now inscribed on a stele. A monument thirty feet tall,
Each word was as big as a bowl.
With dragon designs engirdled, It was supported by a stone turtle.
So solemn and wondrous was the wording That few ever got its full meaning.
Slanders gained the Emperor's ear: "For foul intent Yu had been unfair."
With ropes hundred feet long, Down the stele was tumbled;
Rough sand on huge stone milling along, The words were all crumbled.
But Yu's writing, Like the breath of life, cosmo-old,
Had permeated men's heart and soul.
The Tang Tub and Kong Tripod had mottoes inscribed;
Though the vessels are gone, the words have survived.

Alas, the Emperor and his Premier, Both able and virtuous,
Their fame would jointly endure – Pure, mighty and illustrious. Should this work of Yu's be lost hereafter,
How could they vie in splendors With the Five or Three Emperors?
Fain would I copy it thousand and one times, Till calluses on my right hand grow; Fain would I chime it just as oft times,
Till spit from my mouth began to flow. May the stele with its inscriptions
Be handed down to seventy-two generations,
As the Jade Label, as a cornerstone we dedicate To the Grand Hall of the State!
<End Formatted Translation>