張繼（約750 年）
耕夫召募逐樓船，
春草青青萬頃田。
試上吳門看郡郭，
清明幾處有新煙？
AT THE CITY TOWER GATE OF WU1
Zhang Ji (around 750)
With farmer-conscripts2,
one by one off the multi-decked ships go;
In the boundless rice fields,
green, green grasses of spring grow.
Try climbing up the tower gate
to look outside the city -
It's already Qing Ming but
how many new smokes would show3?
1. The county of Wu in Suzhou City.
2. Farmers were often conscripted and sent to battlefields in ancient times. Large multi-decked ships were used for the purpose.
3. As a rule, people would start lighting fires and resumed cooking at Qing Ming Festival after the Cold Food Festival during which lighting fires was not allowed. The poet hinted that few people were lighting fires as few had rice to cook (i.e. many were starving) because many rice fields were deserted and overgrown with grass after the farmers were conscripted.
書籍簡介︰首創按原詩韻律押韻，以英語及插畫重塑唐詩之美，有助讀者輕鬆踏出接觸唐詩的第一步。■資料提供︰商務印書局
星期三見報