敕勒川，阴山下，
天似穹庐，笼盖四野。
天苍苍，野茫茫，
风吹草低见牛羊。
Imperial orders: force the ford, overcast mountains,
the vault of heaven like a yurt, a cage covering the four corners of the earth.
The sky is grey, the fields vast
The wind blows on the grass gazing cattle and sheep
—
敕勒 is also a modern transliteration for the country Chile. Rather than allude to that country or China’s nationalities I wanted to retain the idea expressed in Whitman’s “Cavalry Crossing a Ford”. To me, this poem describes a military expedition, whether an invasion, retaliation, or defense. Chinese is at times an enigmatic language. I also wished to keep the idea of the imperial system compelling and compelled to cold and grey war after war. Might be nice to avoid all that.