韩碑
李商隐
元和天子神武姿，彼何人哉轩与羲。
誓将上雪列圣耻，坐法宫中朝四夷。
淮西有贼五十载，封狼生生罴。
不据山河据平地，长戈利矛日可麾。
帝得圣相相曰度，贼斫不死神扶持。
腰悬相印作都统，阴风惨淡天王旗。
武古通作牙爪，仪曹外郎载笔随。
行军司马智且勇，十四万众犹虎貔。
入蔡缚贼献太庙，功无与让恩不訾。
帝曰“汝度功第一，汝从事愈宜为辞。”
愈拜稽首蹈且舞，“金石刻画臣能为。
古者世称大手笔，此事不系于职司。
当仁自古有不让，”言讫屡颔天子颐。
公退斋戒坐小阁，濡染大笔何淋漓！
点窜《尧典》、《舜典》字，
涂改《清庙》、《生民》诗。
文成破体书在纸，清晨再拜铺丹墀。
表曰“臣愈昧死上”，咏神圣功书之碑。
碑高三丈字如斗，负以灵鳌蟠以螭。
句奇语重喻者少，谗之天子言其私。
长绳百尺拽碑倒，粗砂大石相磨治。
公之斯文若元气，先时已入人肝脾。
汤盘孔鼎有述作，今无其器存其词。
鸣呼圣皇及圣相，相与赫流淳熙。
公之斯文不示后，曷与三五相攀追？
愿书万本诵万遍，口角流沫右手胝。
传之七十有二代，以为封禅玉检明堂基。
The Han Yu Memorial Stele
Li Shangyin
Our Yuanhe Emperor was endowed with godly courage；
He may be compared with Xuan and Xi of the ancient age.
He swore to wipe out disgrace incurred by his ancestry.
Throned in court， he was paid respects by lords from the whole
country.
For fifty years Huaixi was put in turmoil by Rebels，
Who were like fierce wolves to beget e’en fiercer animals.
They seized not mountains nor rivers but the wide level land.
Every day long swords and sharpened spears were at their
command.
The Emperor had a good premier， and Du was his name.
By gods’ grace he survived a Rebels’ murder with him as aim.
Premier’s seal hanging on girdle， he too held field command.
In the chilly wind， Royal banners waved o’er the gloomy land.
Su， Wu， Gu and Tong their parts as his assistants well played；
Secretary of Rites with writing brushes in the army stayed.
His advisor and aide-de-camp was wise and brave withal；
His hundred-forty thousand troops， like panthers were they all.
Cai captured， Rebels’ chief was offered to Ancestral Shrine.
Du’s matchless merits got him Emperor’s grace without confine.
The Emperor told him： “Du， you rank the first in merits.
Let your aide-de-camp Yu write to praise your illustrious feats.”
Yu prostrated himself， kowtowed and danced in spirits high：
“To write metal or stone inscriptions I can make a try.
A great work this job was in olden time taken to be，
Not performed by such a humble staff officer like me.
But as the old proverb goes， ‘I shirk not what is needed’.”
The Emperor， giving some nods， to Yu’s words acceded.
Yu retired， fasted， bathed and sate in a small cabinet.
How fully be soaked in ink his large writing brush he let.
With Codes of Yao and Shun as norm， he chose words carefully，
Made changes and revisions with the Book of Songs to comply.
The work finished， he wrote it on a sheet in a script free.
At sunrise， spreading it on red court steps， he on his knees
Said to the Emperor： “Your servant Yu makes bold thus to state.”
The eulogy on sacred feats was now carved on a stele great，
Thirty feet in height and with each word as big as a dou，
Stone-turtle-mounted and with dragon patterns girdled through.
Yu’s strange and august use of words few can understand；
Slanders on Yu’s bias had the Emperor’s ears underhand.
The stele was pulled down with a rope one hundred feet long.
Coarse sands and the huge stone were grinding each other along.
But Yu’s writing on the stele was like the breath of life
That had beforehand spread through man’s heart and mind
there to thrive.
Both the Tang Tub and Kong Tripod had epigraphs thereon，
Whose words have survived though their relative vessels are gone.
Alas！ the sainted Emperor and the sainted premier
Would be remembered for their joint honest and bright career.
Should this work of Yu’s not go down to generations to come，
How could they the like of Three or Five Emperors become？
Fain would I myriad times copy Yu’s work and chime it
Till callus grows on my right hand and from my mouth spouts spit.
Would that the stele with Yu’s writing could long， long pass on，
As the attached Jade Label or the State Grand Hall’s Cornerstone.
