Hard Road to Shu (Li Bai)

Hard Road to Shu (Li Bai)

Alas! How perilous and towering!

The road to Shu is harder than climbing to the sky!

Cancong and Yufu—how remote the founding of their kingdom!

For forty-eight thousand years since, no human contact with the passes of Qin.

In the west, the Taibai Mountain allows only a bird's path, crossing the peaks of Emei.

The earth collapsed, the mountains crashed, and the brave men died—only then did stone ladders and cliffside planks link together.

Above, there are high peaks where even the six dragons of the sun must turn back;

Below, there are churning waves and rushing torrents that twist and recoil.

Even the yellow crane cannot fly across; monkeys struggle and grieve as they try to climb.

The Blue Mud Pass winds and coils—in a hundred paces, nine turns wind among the rocks and peaks.

Touching Shen and passing Jing, one gasps for breath, looking up; pressing a hand to the chest, one sits and sighs long.

When will you return from your journey west? The fearful path with its sheer cliffs cannot be scaled.

One sees only mournful birds crying among the ancient trees, males flying and females following, circling through the forest.

And one hears the cuckoo crying beneath the moon, grieving the empty mountains.

The road to Shu is harder than climbing to the sky—

hearing this makes one's rosy cheeks fade!

Peaks in a row come within a foot of the sky; withered pines hang upside down from sheer cliffs.

Rushing torrents and plunging waterfalls clash and thunder, boulders crash and roll like ten thousand pebbles through the valleys.

If the danger is like this, why do you come, you traveler from afar?

The Sword Gate rises towering and steep—one man at the pass, ten thousand cannot force it open.

But if the guardian is not loyal, he becomes wolf and jackal.

In the morning, flee the fierce tiger; in the evening, the long serpent.

They bare their fangs, suck blood, and kill men like hemp.

Though the Brocade City is said to be joyful, better to return home early.

The road to Shu is harder than climbing to the sky—

turning to face the west, one can only sigh!