Song of Watering Horses Near the Great Wall

The riverside grass verdant

Extends unendingly far away.

I shouldn't yearn for a far-off man,

Yet I dreamed of him in the night.

I dreamed about him by my side,

Then woke to find him still away,

Away in various distant places,

Tossing about out of my sight.

A leafless tree can feel the wind,

An unfrozen sea can feel the cold;

Warmly greeted by their families,

Would one of them tell me his news?

A traveler from afar arrives

And brings me a carp-shaped case.

I tell my boy to break the carps

And a silk letter in them we find.

Then I kneel with my back erect

To read what the message says:

‘Eat well & take care of your health,

I've been missing you all the time. ’