第二拍 (5 columns in standard script) 馬上將余向絕域，厭生求死死不得。 戎羯腥膻豈似人，豺狼喜怒難姑息。 行盡天山足霜霰，風土蕭條近胡國。 萬里重陰鳥不飛，寒沙莽莽無南北。
I was taken on horseback to the ends of the earth; Tiring of life, I sought death, but death would not come. The barbarians stink so. How can they be considered human? Their pleasures and angers are like the jackal's and the wolf s— how unbearable! We travel to the end of Tien-shan,* enduring all the frost and sleet; The customs are rude, the land is desolate— we are near the nomads' territories. An overcast sky stretches beyond ten thousand miles. Not a single bird is in sight. The cold sands are boundless: one can no longer tell the south from the north.
* Mountains in the far west, in modern Sinkiang province. This is figurative speech; Wen-chi's party did not go that far west.
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2. Departure from China
Date: 2021-09-06 03:35 am (UTC)馬上將余向絕域，厭生求死死不得。
戎羯腥膻豈似人，豺狼喜怒難姑息。
行盡天山足霜霰，風土蕭條近胡國。
萬里重陰鳥不飛，寒沙莽莽無南北。
I was taken on horseback to the ends of the earth;
Tiring of life, I sought death, but death would not come.
The barbarians stink so. How can they be considered human?
Their pleasures and angers are like the jackal's and the wolf s— how
unbearable!
We travel to the end of Tien-shan,* enduring all the frost and sleet;
The customs are rude, the land is desolate— we are near the nomads'
territories.
An overcast sky stretches beyond ten thousand miles. Not a single bird
is in sight.
The cold sands are boundless: one can no longer tell the south
from the north.
* Mountains in the far west, in modern Sinkiang province. This is figurative
speech; Wen-chi's party did not go that far west.