Cao Cao Tomb

神龜雖壽    猶有竟時
騰蛇乘霧    終為土灰
老驥伏櫪    志在千里
烈士暮年    壯心不已

Tortoise Longevity    (selected part) Cao Cao                      江紹倫譯

Sacred tortoise live their lives long
They will not go against nature but die along
Free spirit dragons rise above the clouds to glide
In death they will disintegrate and return to earth to hide

An old horse takes its respite in its stall
Its determination remains to gallop speedily and tall
A brave man knows his years in decline
His aspirations are still bold and high

The Indomitable Soul         tr. by Father John Turner, S.J. (1909-1971)

Though old be the wise tortoise, yet
Die in the end he must:
And the mist-scaling dragonet,
He too shall come to dust.

Yet ancient steeds in stall that lie
Dream of the leagues they ran:
And heroes, though their doom is nigh
As ever play the man.