Army Song: The Vow at Qinghai

Lines 1–2 · How far the gaze reaches

長雲 extends the clouds across the snow mountains. 暗 gives them the power to darken the range. 孤城 then puts a solitary city under that large view. 遙望 reaches toward Jade Gate Pass. The English lets that distant gaze bring the landmarks into one imagined frontier without making the line an exact survey of what can be seen from the city.

Lines 3–4 · The price already paid and the return still withheld

百戰 compresses many battles into two graphs. 穿 gives them a cumulative physical effect, wearing through 金甲, the metal armor. The final 不破 and 終不還 make return depend on breaking the opposition at Loulan. That historical place-name serves as the military objective in the verse. The English “until” draws out the condition. Worn armor shows what the fighting has already cost, while the end of the vow is still in the future.

This fourth poem in the sequence is a seven-character jueju, rhyming 山, 關, and 還. The first pair makes the setting oppressive; the second converts accumulated wear into an absolute resolution. Pinyin follows modern Mandarin, including bú pò. No historical tone grid is supplied.

Wang Changling's frontier sequence contains more than one attitude toward service. Set this vow beside New Music, Old Parting, where sorrow persists, and Wang Han's luminous-cup song, where returning from war becomes an open question. The differences belong within the tradition.