Listen to this article七律·人民解放军占领南京
一九四九年四月
THE PEOPLE’S LIBERATION ARMY CAPTURES NANKING
–a lu shih
April 1949
钟山风雨起苍黄，
百万雄师过大江。
虎距龙盘今胜昔，
天翻地覆慨而慷。
宜将剩勇追穷寇，
不可沽名学霸王。
天若有情天亦老，
人间正道是沧桑。
Over Chungshan swept a storm, headlong,
Our mighty army, a million strong, has crossed the Great River.
The City, a tiger crouching, a dragon curling, outshines its ancient glories;
In heroic triumph heaven and earth have been overturned.
With power and to spare we must pursue the tottering foe
And not ape Hsiang Yu the conqueror seeking idle fame.
Were Nature sentient, she too would pass from youth to age,
But Man’s world is mutable, seas become mulberry fields.
