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Tang Dynasty Jueju Lu Lun

Border Song, III: Snow on Bows and Blades

塞下曲六首·其三

Sài xià qǔ liù shǒu · qí sān

An enemy leader flees under a dark sky as cavalry prepare to pursue. Watch the poem pause on snow-covered weapons before any outcome is known.

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Read the original and its translation together. Open a line’s word meanings for a closer look.

About the text and pronunciation

The simplified view changes character forms, not the edition. Notes and sources retain the cited text.

The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.

Word by word, in the order of the line. A gloss is a crib. It is not the translation.

01

月黑雁飛高，

yuè hēi yàn fēi gāo

With the moon dark, geese fly high;

Word meanings — Line 1
  1. 月 yuè moon
  2. 黑 hēi dark
  3. 雁 yàn geese
  4. 飛 fēi fly
  5. 高 gāo high
02

單于夜遁逃。

chán yú yè dùn táo

the chanyu flees in the night.

Word meanings — Line 2
  1. 單于 chán yú chanyu, a ruler’s title
  2. 夜 yè night
  3. 遁 dùn flee
  4. 逃 táo escape
03

欲將輕騎逐，

yù jiāng qīng qí zhú

Light cavalry are about to be led in pursuit;

Word meanings — Line 3
  1. 欲 yù about to
  2. 將 jiāng lead
  3. 輕騎 qīng qí light cavalry
  4. 逐 zhú pursue
04

大雪滿弓刀。

dà xuě mǎn gōng dāo

heavy snow coats their bows and blades.

Word meanings — Line 4
  1. 大 dà great
  2. 雪 xuě snow
  3. 滿 mǎn fills
  4. 弓 gōng bows
  5. 刀 dāo blades

English translation by PoemWell.

Read the whole poem

Original

月黑雁飛高，

單于夜遁逃。

欲將輕騎逐，

大雪滿弓刀。

Translation

With the moon dark, geese fly high;

the chanyu flees in the night.

Light cavalry are about to be led in pursuit;

heavy snow coats their bows and blades.

Try it from memory

After reading, recall the underlined word or phrase in each line. Say its meaning before opening the answer. These prompts use the text edition printed above.

  1. Line 1 · What does the marked word mean?

    月黑雁飛高，

    Pronunciation hint

    yàn

    Reveal meaning and translation

    雁 — geese

    With the moon dark, geese fly high;

  2. Line 3 · What does the marked word mean?

    欲將輕騎逐，

    Pronunciation hint

    qīng qí

    Reveal meaning and translation

    輕騎 — light cavalry

    Light cavalry are about to be led in pursuit;

  3. Line 4 · What does the marked word mean?

    大雪滿弓刀。

    Pronunciation hint

    mǎn

    Reveal meaning and translation

    滿 — fills

    heavy snow coats their bows and blades.

One more question: what changes?

Compare the opening and closing lines. What changes in the scene, the speaker’s attention, or the feeling? Choose a Chinese word as evidence, then compare your reading with the notes. More than one answer may be reasonable.

Line-by-line notes →

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Line-by-line notes

Lines 1–2 · Motion in the dark

月黑 removes the usual light of the moon. 雁飛高 gives the reader something moving overhead before the next line looks down at the fleeing leader. 單于, read chán yú, is the title chanyu. Here it supplies the inherited name of a frontier opponent, without identifying him as a particular person. The repeated darkness of 月黑 and 夜 gives the flight its cover.

Lines 3–4 · The instant before pursuit

欲 makes the cavalry’s departure imminent. 將 means to lead, and 逐 gives the purpose, pursuit. The English leaves the leader unnamed, as the Chinese does. The expected action then gives way to snow already covering the weapons. 滿 makes the snow’s presence complete while the chase remains ahead of the riders. The last line holds them at the point of setting out.

Form and tone

This complete five-character quatrain moves from sky to fleeing leader to planned action, then stops at the equipment. The last line substitutes an image for an outcome. Read 欲 carefully: turning it into a completed charge would remove the poem’s suspended moment.

See jueju for the larger formal pattern. Pinyin gives modern Mandarin pronunciation; a historical level/oblique grid is not inferred from those modern tones.

Historical context

The poem is the third of the six Border Songs preserved together in Yuefu shiji. Its military vocabulary is conventional and historically layered. The modern Mandarin reading qí for cavalry is used here; pinyin is not a reconstruction of the rhyme system or performance of Lu Lun’s time.

Continue with Lu Lun and the frontier reading path. Compare Border Song, II: The Arrow in the Stone and River Snow using the reading connections below.

Sources

樂府詩集/093卷 — Chinese text. Checked against the linked Wikisource transcription. The displayed traditional text follows this reading. Punctuation and line breaks are editorial. Translation, glosses, and reading notes are original to PoemWell.

English translation, gloss, and notes by PoemWell. The translation is original to this site.

The Chinese source is shown in traditional characters by default, with a simplified view available. Pinyin is modern standard Mandarin, a reading aid, not Tang or Song pronunciation.

Updated .

Cite this reading

Lu Lun. “Border Song, III: Snow on Bows and Blades” (塞下曲六首·其三). PoemWell. English translation by PoemWell. Updated .

https://poemwell.org/poems/border-song-lu-lun-three

Credit the poet for the Chinese original and PoemWell for this translation and commentary. Use the permanent page link above; source editions are listed separately.