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.