Border songs III | High in the faint moonlight, wildgeese are soaring

by Lu Lun (739 - 799)

Translation by Witter Bynner (1881 - 1968)

塞下曲四首之三

Language: Chinese (中文)

月黑雁飛高，
單于夜遁逃。
欲將輕騎逐，
大雪滿弓刀。

Text Authorship:

by Lu Lun (739 - 799), "塞下曲四首之三" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

[ None yet in the database ]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

Also set in Swedish (Svenska), a translation by Erik Blomberg (1894 - 1965) , appears in Jadeberget, kinesisk lyrik från Tangdynastin 618-906 , first published 1944, copyright © ; composed by Hilding Rosenberg.

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

ENG English (Witter Bynner) , "Border songs III", appears in The Jade Mountain, first published 1929

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-07-28
Line count: 4
Word count: 4

Border songs III

Language: English after the Chinese (中文)

High in the faint moonlight, wildgeese are soaring.
Tartar chieftains are fleeing through the dark --
And we chase them, with horses lightly burdened
And a burden of snow on our bows and our swords.

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Text Authorship:

by Witter Bynner (1881 - 1968), "Border songs III", appears in The Jade Mountain, first published 1929 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

a text in Chinese (中文) by Lu Lun (739 - 799), "塞下曲四首之三"
- Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

[ None yet in the database ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2009-07-28
Line count: 4
Word count: 34