<Header>
<Author: 杜甫>
<Title: 韋諷錄事宅觀曹將軍畫馬圖>
<Format: 七言古詩>
<Year: 1929>
<BookName: The Jade Mountain: A Chinese Anthology>
<Translator: Witter Bynner>
<TranslatedTitle: A DRAWING OF A HORSE BY GENERAL TS'AO AT SECRETARY WÊI FÊNG'S HOUSE>
<BookPage: 162-163>
<UsedPage: 2>
<Feature: 0>
<End Header>
<Poem>
國初已來畫鞍馬，
神妙獨數江都王。
將軍得名三十載，
人間又見真乘黃。
曾貌先帝照夜白，
龍池十日飛霹靂。
內府殷紅馬腦盌，
倢伃傳詔才人索。
盌賜將軍拜舞歸，
輕紈細綺相追飛。
貴戚權門得筆跡，
始覺屏障生光輝。
昔日太宗拳毛騧，
近時郭家師子花。
今之新圖有二馬，
復令識者久歎嗟。
此皆騎戰一敵萬，
縞素漠漠開風沙。
其餘七匹亦殊絕，
迥若寒空動煙雪。
霜蹄蹴踏長楸間，
馬官廝養森成列。
可憐九馬爭神駿，
顧視清高氣深穩。
借問苦心愛者誰，
後有韋諷前支遁。
憶昔巡幸新豐宮，
翠華拂天來向東。
騰驤磊落三萬匹，
皆與此圖筋骨同。
自從獻寶朝河宗，
無復射蛟江水中。
君不見金粟堆前松柏裏，
龍媒去盡鳥呼風。
<End Poem>
<Translation>
Throughout this dynasty no one had painted horses
Like the master-spirit, Prince Chiang-tu—
And then to General Ts'ao through his thirty years of fame
The world's gaze turned, for royal steeds.
He painted the late Emperor's luminous white horse.
For ten days the thunder flew over Dragon Lake,
And a pink-agate plate was sent him from the palace—
The talk of the court-ladies, the marvel of all eyes.
The General danced, receiving it in his honoured home....
After this rare gift, followed rapidly fine silks
From many of the nobles, requesting that his art
Lend a new lustre to their screens.
... First came the curly-maned horse of Emperor T'ai-tsung,
Then, for the Kuos, a lion-spotted horse ...
But now in this painting I see two horses,
A sobering sight for whosoever knew them.
They are war-horses. Either could face ten thousand.
They make the white silk stretch away into a vast desert.
And the seven others with them are almost as noble....
Mist and snow are moving across a cold sky,
And hoofs are cleaving snow-drifts under great trees—
With here a group of officers and there a group of servants.
See how these nine horses all vie with one another—
The high clear glance, the deep firm breath.
... Who understands distinction? Who really cares for art?
You, Wêi Fêng, have followed Ts'ao; Chih Tun preceded him.
... I remember when the late Emperor came toward his Summer Palace,
The procession, in green-feathered rows, swept from the east-ern sky—
Thirty thousand horses, prancing, galloping,
Fashioned, every one of them, like the horses in this picture....
But now the Imperial Ghost receives secret jade from the River-God,
For the Emperor hunts crocodiles no longer by the streams.
Where you see his Great Gold Tomb, you may hear among the pines.
A bird grieving in the wind that the Emperor's horses are gone.
<End Translation>