Five-Character Regulated Verse: Glad Tidings of Victory

(1947)

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, strolling along the canal, I heard that the Northwest Field Army had recaptured Panlong.[1] Composed this.

The autumn wind crosses over the river,
The great wilderness merges into the azure vault.
The fine season arrives along with people,
The bright moon rises beside the clouds.
From the old home, the wild goose’s message is cut off,
No word has reached my wife and children.
Across the whole sky, I gaze again and again in hope,
As songs of triumph resound from the border town.

[1] Panlong, an ancient town over 70 li northeast of Yan’an city.
[2] 度 (du), interchangeable with 渡 (du), meaning to cross over.
[3] 大野 (daye), the boundless open plain. 入 (ru), to merge into. 苍穹 (cangqiong), the azure sky.
[4] 佳令 (jialing), a beautiful seasonal festival, here referring to the Mid-Autumn Festival.
[5] 鸿音绝 (hongyin jue), messages have ceased. 鸿 (hong) refers to the wild goose; the “Biography of Su Wu” in the *Book of Han* records the story of wild geese delivering letters.
[6] 凯歌奏边城 (kaige zou biancheng), refers to the Northwest Field Army’s victory at the Shajiadian campaign in northern Shaanxi in August 1947; in mid-September, they recaptured towns such as Qinghuabian and Panlong.

1948, Mao Zedong at Xibaipo Village, Pingshan County, Hebei Province.