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Qì Zhōng ZuòWritten in the Desert 碛中作
Cen Shen rides west into an endless desert.
Original Chinese text with pinyin
走马西来欲到天
zǒu mǎ xī lái yù dào tiān
辞家见月两回圆
cí jiā jiàn yuè liǎng huí yuán
今夜不知何处宿
jīn yè bù zhī hé chù sù
平沙万里绝人烟
píng shā wàn lǐ jué rén yān
Simplified characters; traditional title: 磧中作.
English translation
Riding west, I seem about to reach the sky;
Since leaving home I have seen the moon grow full twice.
Tonight I know not where I shall lodge—
Flat sand for ten thousand li, no human smoke.
Original translation by Poetune — literal but poetic, written for this site.
Line by line
Meaning and imagery
The first line exaggerates the journey: riding west so far he might reach the sky. The second measures time by the moon: two months gone. The third admits uncertainty, and the last shows why — endless flat sand with no cooking smoke. The poem conveys awe and loneliness in the language of plain fact.
Background
Written in 749 as Cen Shen traveled across the Gobi to his post in Anxi.
Key words
- 碛 qì
- desert, gravel plain
- 两回圆 liǎng huí yuán
- full twice
- 人烟 rén yān
- smoke from cooking fires; human habitation
About the poet: Cen Shen
Cen Shen served for years on the far northwestern frontier and is the leading poet of the deserts, snows and garrisons of Central Asia.
Lifetime: c. 715–770. Other famous works: Written in the Desert (碛中作); Meeting an Envoy Bound for the Capital (逢入京使); Song of White Snow in Farewell to Assistant Wu (白雪歌送武判官归京); Song of White Snow (白雪歌送武判官归京).