Li He

Li He

Li He (c. 790–791 – c. 816–817) was a Chinese poet of the mid-Tang dynasty.

Quotes

• 大漠沙如雪，燕山月似钩。
  何当金络脑，快走踏清秋。
  • The desert sands look white as snow;
    The crescent moon hangs like a bow.
    When would the steed in golden gear
    Gallop all night through autumn clear?
    • "Twenty-three Horse Poems", 5 (《马诗二十三首（其五）》), in Song of the Immortals: An Anthology of Classical Chinese Poetry, trans. Xu Yuanchong (Penguin Books, 1994), p. 91

"Ballad of the Grand Warden of Goose Gate" (《雁門太守行》)

In The Poems of Li Ho, trans. J. D. Frodsham (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970)

• 黑雲壓城城欲摧，甲光向日金鱗開。
  • Black clouds whelm on the city,
    Till it seems the city must yield.
    Our chain-mail glitters under the moon,
    Metal scales agape.
    • Opening lines

• 報君黃金臺上意，提攜玉龍為君死。
  • We require the king for his favours to us
    At Yellow Gold Tower,
    Clutching our Dragons of Jade
    We die for our lord.
    • Closing lines

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Li He on Wikipedia