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The Monument to Han Yu
English Poetic Translation
The Emperor of Yuanhe possessed a martial and divine grace,
Surpassing ancient sovereigns who founded the human race.
He vowed to wash away the shame of sages past,
And summoned barbarian tribes to court while peace held fast.
For half a century Huaixi sheltered rebel bands,
Where wolf begot lynx and bear across the conquered lands.
They relied not on steep mountains but on open plain,
With lances flashing bright as if the sun they could constrain.
The Emperor found a holy minister named Pei Du, whom spirits saved;
Though assassins struck in vain, heavenly guardians him behaved.
With the primeval seal at waist, as supreme general he led,
Beneath dark, desolate banners where the imperial armies tread.
Li Su and Wu Chongyin served as his fierce teeth and claws,
While a scholar from the Ministry followed to record his laws.
The army supervisors were both wise and passing brave,
Fourteen hundred thousand tigers surging like a tidal wave.
They entered Cai to bind the rebels for the ancestral shrine,
Where immeasurable favors matched a victory so divine.
The Emperor declared Pei Du’s achievement foremost of them all,
And bade Han Yu compose the text to grace the temple wall.
Han Yu bowed low, touching the earth, dancing in delight,
Proclaiming that stone inscriptions were well within his might.
He cried that ancient masters held a pen above mere rank,
And when a moral duty calls, true writers never shrank.
With words complete, he nodded as the monarch gave assent,
Then to his quiet study room the master grieving went.
He dipped his brush so lavishly, the ink began to pour,
As if rewriting ancient canons on the sacred floor.
He reshaped the ancient language of the ritualodes and odes,
And poured his spirit forth across the manuscript he rode.
At dawn he laid the parchment on the crimson palace stair,
Submitting his petition with a loyal scholar's prayer:
To praise the divine sovereign and record the victory.
The stele soared three zhang high, characters like bushel measures wide,
Borne upon giant tortoises with coiling dragons at its side.
The phrases deep and weighty found but few who understood,
And petty slanderers whispered lies where truth alone should stood.
Long ropes of a hundred feet dragged down the monument of stone,
And coarse sand ground the letters till their sharp relief was flown.
Yet Han Yu's prose remains akin to nature's primal breath,
Already lodged in human hearts transcending time and death.
As Tang and Kong preserved their rites though ancient vessels fail,
So too this master's mighty text defies the grinding gale.
Alas for such a sacred lord and minister so grand,
Whose brilliant glory illuminated all the land.
If such a masterpiece of letters fails to reach posterity,
How could it match the ancient sage-kings in eternity?
Oh, let us copy thousand scrolls and chant them thousand times,
Until our hands are callused and our lips repeat the rhymes,
To pass it down through seventy generations yet to come,
As the foundation stone of earth when imperial rites are done.
Surpassing ancient sovereigns who founded the human race.
He vowed to wash away the shame of sages past,
And summoned barbarian tribes to court while peace held fast.
For half a century Huaixi sheltered rebel bands,
Where wolf begot lynx and bear across the conquered lands.
They relied not on steep mountains but on open plain,
With lances flashing bright as if the sun they could constrain.
The Emperor found a holy minister named Pei Du, whom spirits saved;
Though assassins struck in vain, heavenly guardians him behaved.
With the primeval seal at waist, as supreme general he led,
Beneath dark, desolate banners where the imperial armies tread.
Li Su and Wu Chongyin served as his fierce teeth and claws,
While a scholar from the Ministry followed to record his laws.
The army supervisors were both wise and passing brave,
Fourteen hundred thousand tigers surging like a tidal wave.
They entered Cai to bind the rebels for the ancestral shrine,
Where immeasurable favors matched a victory so divine.
The Emperor declared Pei Du’s achievement foremost of them all,
And bade Han Yu compose the text to grace the temple wall.
Han Yu bowed low, touching the earth, dancing in delight,
Proclaiming that stone inscriptions were well within his might.
He cried that ancient masters held a pen above mere rank,
And when a moral duty calls, true writers never shrank.
With words complete, he nodded as the monarch gave assent,
Then to his quiet study room the master grieving went.
He dipped his brush so lavishly, the ink began to pour,
As if rewriting ancient canons on the sacred floor.
He reshaped the ancient language of the ritualodes and odes,
And poured his spirit forth across the manuscript he rode.
At dawn he laid the parchment on the crimson palace stair,
Submitting his petition with a loyal scholar's prayer:
To praise the divine sovereign and record the victory.
The stele soared three zhang high, characters like bushel measures wide,
Borne upon giant tortoises with coiling dragons at its side.
The phrases deep and weighty found but few who understood,
And petty slanderers whispered lies where truth alone should stood.
Long ropes of a hundred feet dragged down the monument of stone,
And coarse sand ground the letters till their sharp relief was flown.
Yet Han Yu's prose remains akin to nature's primal breath,
Already lodged in human hearts transcending time and death.
As Tang and Kong preserved their rites though ancient vessels fail,
So too this master's mighty text defies the grinding gale.
Alas for such a sacred lord and minister so grand,
Whose brilliant glory illuminated all the land.
If such a masterpiece of letters fails to reach posterity,
How could it match the ancient sage-kings in eternity?
Oh, let us copy thousand scrolls and chant them thousand times,
Until our hands are callused and our lips repeat the rhymes,
To pass it down through seventy generations yet to come,
As the foundation stone of earth when imperial rites are done.
Classical Chinese & Pinyin
元和天子神武姿，彼何人哉軒與羲。
誓將上雪列聖恥，坐法宮中朝四夷。
淮西有賊五十載，封狼生貙貙生羆。
不據山河據平地，長戈利矛日可麾。
帝得聖相相曰度，賊斫不死神扶持。
腰懸相印作都統，陰風慘澹天王旗。
愬武古通作牙爪，儀曹外郎載筆隨。
行軍司馬智且勇，十四萬衆猶虎貔。
入蔡縛賊獻太廟，功無與讓恩不訾。
帝曰汝度功第一，汝從事愈宜爲辭。
愈拜稽首蹈且舞，金石刻畫臣能爲。
古者世稱大手筆，此事不繫於職司。
當仁自古有不讓，言訖屢頷天子頤。
公退齋戒坐小閣，濡染大筆何淋漓。
點竄堯典舜典字，塗改清廟生民詩。
文成破體書在紙，清晨再拜鋪丹墀。
表曰臣愈昧死上，詠神聖功書之碑。
碑高三丈字如鬥，負以靈鼇蟠以螭。
句奇語重喻者少，讒之天子言其私。
長繩百尺拽碑倒，麤砂大石相磨治。
公之斯文若元氣，先時已入人肝脾。
湯盤孔鼎有述作，今無其器存其辭。
嗚呼聖皇及聖相，相與烜赫流淳熙。
公之斯文不示後，曷與三五相攀追。
願書萬本誦萬過，口角流沫右手胝。
傳之七十有二代，以爲封禪玉檢明堂基。
誓將上雪列聖恥，坐法宮中朝四夷。
淮西有賊五十載，封狼生貙貙生羆。
不據山河據平地，長戈利矛日可麾。
帝得聖相相曰度，賊斫不死神扶持。
腰懸相印作都統，陰風慘澹天王旗。
愬武古通作牙爪，儀曹外郎載筆隨。
行軍司馬智且勇，十四萬衆猶虎貔。
入蔡縛賊獻太廟，功無與讓恩不訾。
帝曰汝度功第一，汝從事愈宜爲辭。
愈拜稽首蹈且舞，金石刻畫臣能爲。
古者世稱大手筆，此事不繫於職司。
當仁自古有不讓，言訖屢頷天子頤。
公退齋戒坐小閣，濡染大筆何淋漓。
點竄堯典舜典字，塗改清廟生民詩。
文成破體書在紙，清晨再拜鋪丹墀。
表曰臣愈昧死上，詠神聖功書之碑。
碑高三丈字如鬥，負以靈鼇蟠以螭。
句奇語重喻者少，讒之天子言其私。
長繩百尺拽碑倒，麤砂大石相磨治。
公之斯文若元氣，先時已入人肝脾。
湯盤孔鼎有述作，今無其器存其辭。
嗚呼聖皇及聖相，相與烜赫流淳熙。
公之斯文不示後，曷與三五相攀追。
願書萬本誦萬過，口角流沫右手胝。
傳之七十有二代，以爲封禪玉檢明堂基。
Philological Direct Translation
Yuanhe heavenly son divine martial disposition, that what person then Fuxi and Nuvia.
Vowed about to above snow successive sages shame, sitting in law palace within greeting four barbarians.
Huai-xi has rebels fifty years, breeding wolf gives birth to lynx lynx gives birth to bear.
Not depending on mountains rivers depending on flat earth, long spears sharp lances sun can command.
Emperor got holy minister minister named Pei Du, rebels hacked not dying spirits supporting holding.
Waist hanging ministerial seal acting as commander-in-chief, dark wind desolate heavenly king banner.
Li Su, Wu Chongyin, Gu You acting as teeth and claws, Ministry of Rites assistant secretary carrying brush following.
Marching army supervisor wise and moreover brave, fourteen myriads multitude like tigers and leopards.
Entering Cai binding rebels presenting ancestral temple, merit no with yielding favor not immeasurable.
Emperor said you Du merit number one, your attendant Han Yu should compose text.
Han Yu bows touches head dances and jumps, metal stone carving engraving official can do.
Ancients universally called great master writer, this matter not tied to official post.
Assuming benevolence since ancient times has not yielding, words finished repeatedly nodding heavenly son chin.
Duke retiring purification sits small pavilion, soaking moistening great brush how pouring copiously.
Editing revising Yao Classic and Shun Classic words, altering clear temple people birth poems.
Composition finished breaking styles written on paper, clear morning twice bowing spreading vermilion steps.
Memorial says minister Yu risking death submitting, chanting divine sacred merits writing on stele.
Stele high three zhang characters like peck measures, carried by spirit turtles coiled by dragons.
Lines marvelous words weighty understood by few, slandering him to heavenly son speaking of his partiality.
Long rope hundred feet dragging stele down, coarse sand large stones mutually grinding polishing.
Duke of this literature like primal breath, prior time already entered people liver spleen.
Tang basin Kong tripod have written works, now without those vessels preserving their words.
Alas sacred emperor and sacred minister, mutually brilliant flowing spring dawn.
Duke of this literature not showing descendants, how with Three and Five mutually striving to pursue.
Wishing to copy ten thousand volumes reciting ten thousand passes, mouth corners flowing saliva right hand callused.
Passing it seventy and two generations, considering as fengshan jade tallies bright hall foundation.
Vowed about to above snow successive sages shame, sitting in law palace within greeting four barbarians.
Huai-xi has rebels fifty years, breeding wolf gives birth to lynx lynx gives birth to bear.
Not depending on mountains rivers depending on flat earth, long spears sharp lances sun can command.
Emperor got holy minister minister named Pei Du, rebels hacked not dying spirits supporting holding.
Waist hanging ministerial seal acting as commander-in-chief, dark wind desolate heavenly king banner.
Li Su, Wu Chongyin, Gu You acting as teeth and claws, Ministry of Rites assistant secretary carrying brush following.
Marching army supervisor wise and moreover brave, fourteen myriads multitude like tigers and leopards.
Entering Cai binding rebels presenting ancestral temple, merit no with yielding favor not immeasurable.
Emperor said you Du merit number one, your attendant Han Yu should compose text.
Han Yu bows touches head dances and jumps, metal stone carving engraving official can do.
Ancients universally called great master writer, this matter not tied to official post.
Assuming benevolence since ancient times has not yielding, words finished repeatedly nodding heavenly son chin.
Duke retiring purification sits small pavilion, soaking moistening great brush how pouring copiously.
Editing revising Yao Classic and Shun Classic words, altering clear temple people birth poems.
Composition finished breaking styles written on paper, clear morning twice bowing spreading vermilion steps.
Memorial says minister Yu risking death submitting, chanting divine sacred merits writing on stele.
Stele high three zhang characters like peck measures, carried by spirit turtles coiled by dragons.
Lines marvelous words weighty understood by few, slandering him to heavenly son speaking of his partiality.
Long rope hundred feet dragging stele down, coarse sand large stones mutually grinding polishing.
Duke of this literature like primal breath, prior time already entered people liver spleen.
Tang basin Kong tripod have written works, now without those vessels preserving their words.
Alas sacred emperor and sacred minister, mutually brilliant flowing spring dawn.
Duke of this literature not showing descendants, how with Three and Five mutually striving to pursue.
Wishing to copy ten thousand volumes reciting ten thousand passes, mouth corners flowing saliva right hand callused.
Passing it seventy and two generations, considering as fengshan jade tallies bright hall foundation.