This is a magnificent poem, which is very moving to read. The first half summarizes the history from the end of the Qin Dynasty to the beginning of the Han Dynasty, but it is written very vividly, with the characters described in their own characteristics, full of image, and vivid. The second half is to think and imagine from the perspective of today, “It is the heroes who can put order to chaos, how can the vulgar scholars do it?” It has always taken heroes to put order to chaos and turn the tide, so what can ordinary people do? The ending even uses Ruan Ji to satirize the vulgar Confucian scholars who are useless and can only slander heroes. This poem shows the author’s yearning for achievements and also reflects the poet’s situation in reality from a side.
登广武古战场怀古
秦鹿[1]奔野草，
逐之若飞蓬。
项王气盖世，
紫电明双瞳[2]。
呼吸[3]八千人，
横行起江东。
赤精斩白帝，
叱咤入关中。
两龙[4]不并跃，
五纬与天同。
楚灭无英图，
汉兴有成功。
这是一首大气磅礴的诗，读来令人荡气回肠。前半部分概括从秦末到汉初的历史，但写得非常生动，人物描写各具特色，形象丰满，活灵活现。后半部分则是站在今者的角度去思考去想象，“拨乱属豪圣，俗儒安可通”，拨乱反正、力挽狂澜从来都需要英雄豪杰，凡夫俗子能干些什么呢？结尾更是借阮籍讽刺庸俗的儒生无用，只会诋毁英雄。这首诗显示了作者对建功立业的向往，也从侧面反映了现实中诗人的处境。
注释：
[1]秦鹿：出自“逐鹿”典故。《史记》：蒯通曰：“秦失其鹿，天下共逐之，于是高材捷足者先得焉。”张晏曰：“以鹿喻帝位也。”
[2]双瞳：传说项羽眼球有两个瞳孔。《史记·项羽本纪》：“闻项羽亦重瞳子。”
[3]呼吸：一呼即来。
[4]两龙：指刘邦和项羽。
Reflections on the Ancient Battlefield at Guangwu[1]
The Emperor of Qin had lost his deer[2],
And heroes chased it as thistle-down flies.
The Prince of Chu was brave without a peer,
With purple flashes in double-pupiled eyes.
He called eight thousand Southern youths to fight,
From eastern River shore they swept the foes.
The Duke of Han had killed the Serpent white,
And breaking through the Pass,his war cries rose.
Two rival Dragons reigned not at same time,
And five propitious stars appeared on high.
Chu perished for lack of ideal sublime;
The Duke expanded his realm beneath the sky.
按剑清八极[3]，
归酣歌《大风》。
伊昔临广武，
连兵[4]决雌雄。
分我一杯羹，
太皇乃汝翁。
战争有古迹，
壁垒颓层穹。
猛虎啸洞壑，
饥鹰鸣秋空。
翔云列晓阵，
杀气赫长虹。
拨乱属豪圣，
俗儒安可通？
沉湎呼竖子，
狂言非至公。
抚掌黄河曲，
嗤嗤阮嗣宗。
He cleared eight borders with the sword he did wield,
And came back drunk and sang The Great Wind Song[5].
His army once came to this battlefield,
And fought the Prince to see who was the strong.
His father,captured,would be boiled alive,
“My father’s yours,”he said,“in weal and woe.”
Of ancient war few relics still survive,
The ramparts crumble to mounds high and low.
Fierce growling tigers fill the caves with dismay,
And hungry eagles cleave the autumn sky.
The morning clouds still make a battle array,
And war cries seem to pelt the rainbow on high.
To end disorder is the deed of sage.
Pedantic scholar[6],how dare you declare,
Drunken,the Duke was fellow of village?
You’re mad and frenzy,unjust and unfair.
I clap my hands in view of this battleground,
And laugh away your ignorance profound.
注释：
[1]The battlefield in present-day Henan Province where Xiang Yu,Prince of Chu,fought against Liu Bang,Duke of Han,who won and became the first emperor of the Han Dynas ty in 206 B.C.
[2]His throne.
[3]八极：指最边远的地方。
[4]连兵：兵刃相连，正面交锋。
[5]The first seven-charactered poem written by Liu Bang.
[6]Ruan Ji,scholar of the Jin Dynasty(265–420),who said on his visit to the battlefield at Guangwu that there was no hero in the world and a village fellow like Liu Bang had risen to fame.
