| Originale | Altra traduzione inglese da Chinese Poems. |
| 兵车行 | SONG OF THE WAGONS (or BALLAD OF THE ARMY CARTS) |
| | |
| 车辚辚 | The wagons rumble and roll, |
| 马萧萧 | The horses whinny and neigh, |
| 行人弓箭各在腰 | The conscripts each have bows and arrows at their waists. |
| 耶娘妻子走相送 | Their parents, wives and children run to see them off, |
| 尘埃不见咸阳桥 | So much dust's stirred up, it hides the Xianyang bridge. |
| 牵衣顿足阑道哭 | They pull clothes, stamp their feet and, weeping, bar the way, |
| 哭声直上干云霄 | The weeping voices rise straight up and strike the clouds. |
| 道傍过者问行人 | A passer-by at the roadside asks a conscript why, |
| 行人但云点行频 | The conscript answers only that drafting happens often. |
| 或从十五北防河 | "At fifteen, many were sent north to guard the river, |
| 便至四十西营田 | Even at forty, they had to till fields in the west. |
| 去时里正与裹头 | When we went away, the elders bound our heads, |
| 归来头白还戍边 | Returning with heads white, we're sent back off to the frontier. |
| 边亭流血成海水 | At the border posts, shed blood becomes a sea, |
| 武皇开边意未已 | The martial emperor's dream of expansion has no end. |
| 君不闻汉家山东二百州 | Have you not seen the two hundred districts east of the mountains, |
| 千村万落生荆杞 | Where thorns and brambles grow in countless villages and hamlets? |
| 纵有健妇把锄犁 | Although there are strong women to grasp the hoe and the plough, |
| 禾生陇亩无东西 | They grow some crops, but there's no order in the fields. |
| 况复秦兵耐苦战 | What's more, we soldiers of Qin withstand the bitterest fighting, |
| 被驱不异犬与鸡 | We're always driven onwards just like dogs and chickens. |
| 长者虽有问 | Although an elder can ask me this, |
| 役夫敢申恨 | How can a soldier dare to complain? |
| 且如今年冬 | Even in this winter time, |
| 未休关西卒 | Soldiers from west of the pass keep moving. |
| 县官急索租 | The magistrate is eager for taxes, |
| 租税从何出 | But how can we afford to pay? |
| 信知生男恶 | We know now having boys is bad, |
| 反是生女好 | While having girls is for the best; |
| 生女犹得嫁比邻 | Our girls can still be married to the neighbours, |
| 生男埋没随百草 | Our sons are merely buried amid the grass. |
| 君不见青海头 | Have you not seen on the border of Qinghai, |
| 古来白骨无人收 | The ancient bleached bones no man's gathered in? |
| 新鬼烦冤旧鬼哭 | The new ghosts are angered by injustice, the old ghosts weep, |
| 天阴雨湿声啾啾 | Moistening rain falls from dark heaven on the voices' screeching." |
