問翁臂折來幾年，兼問致折何因緣。
翁云貫屬新豐縣，生逢聖代無征戰。
front of the Inn; With his left arm he leans on their shoulders; his right arm is broken. I asked the old man how many years had passed since he broke his arm; I also asked the cause of the injury, how and why it happened?
慣聽棃園歌管聲，不識旗槍與弓箭。
無何天寶大徵兵，戶有三丁點一丁。
The old man said he was born and reared in the District of Hsin-fēng; At the time of his birth--a wise reign; no wars or discords. “Often I listened in the Pear-Tree Garden to the sound of flute and song; Naught I knew of banner and lance; nothing of arrow or bow.
點得驅將何處去，五月萬里雲南行。
聞道雲南有瀘水，椒花落時瘴煙起。
Then came the wars of T’ien-pao[71] and the great levy of men; Of three men in each house,--one man was taken. And those to whom the lot fell, where were they taken to? Five months’ journey, a thousand miles--away to Yün-nan. We heard it said that in Yün-nan there flows the Lu River;
大軍徒涉水如湯，未過十人二三死。
村南村北哭聲哀，兒別爺娘夫別妻。
As the flowers fall from the pepper-trees, poisonous vapours rise. When the great army waded across, the water seethed like a cauldron; When barely ten had entered the water, two or three were dead. To the north of my village, to the south of my village the sound of weeping and wailing.
皆云前後征蠻者，千萬人行無一迴。
是時翁年二十四，兵部牒中有名字。
Children parting from fathers and mothers; husbands parting from wives. Everyone says that in expeditions against the Min tribes Of a million men who are sent out, not one returns. I, that am old, was then twenty-four;
夜深不敢使人知，偷將大石搥折臂。
張弓簸旗俱不堪，從茲始免征雲南。
My name and fore-name were written down in the rolls of the Board of War. In the depth of the night not daring to let any one know I secretly took a huge stone and dashed it against my arm. For drawing the bow and waving the banner now wholly unfit;
骨碎筋傷非不苦，且圖揀退歸鄉土。
此臂折來六十年，一肢雖廢一身全。
I knew henceforward I should not be sent to fight in Yün-nan. Bones broken and sinews wounded could not fail to hurt; I was ready enough to bear pain, if only I got back home. My arm--broken ever since; it was sixty years ago. One limb, although destroyed,--whole body safe!
至今風雨陰寒夜，直到天明痛不眠。
痛不眠，終不悔，且喜老身今獨在。
But even now on winter nights when the wind and rain blow From evening on till day’s dawn I cannot sleep for pain. Not sleeping for pain Is a small thing to bear, Compared with the joy of being alive when all the rest are dead.
不然當時瀘水頭，身死魂孤骨不收。
應作雲南望鄉鬼，萬人冢上哭呦呦。
For otherwise, years ago, at the ford of Lu River My body would have died and my soul hovered by the bones that no one gathered. A ghost, I’d have wandered in Yün-nan, always looking for home. Over the graves of ten thousand soldiers, mournfully hovering.”
老人言，君聽取。
君不聞開元宰相宋開府，不賞邊功防黷武。
So the old man spoke. And I bid you listen to his words Have you not heard That the Prime Minister of K’ai-yüan,[72] Sung K’ai-fu, Did not reward frontier exploits, lest a spirit of aggression should
又不聞天寶宰相楊國忠，欲求恩幸立邊功。
邊功未立生人怨，請問新豐折臂翁。
prevail? And have you not heard That the Prime Minister of T’ien-Pao, Yang Kuo-chung[73] Desiring to win imperial favour, started a frontier war? But long before he could win the war, people had lost their temper; Ask the man with the broken arm in the village of Hsin-fēng?