九江十年冬大雪，江水生冰樹枝折。
百鳥無食東西飛，中有旅雁聲最飢。
雪中啄草冰上宿，翅冷騰空飛動遲。
江童持網捕將去，手攜入市生賣之。
我本北人今譴謫，人鳥雖殊同是客。
見此客鳥傷客人，贖汝放汝飛入雲。
雁雁汝飛向何處，第一莫飛西北去。
淮西有賊討未平，百萬甲兵久屯聚。
官軍賊軍相守老，食盡兵窮將及汝。
健兒飢餓射汝吃，拔汝翅翎為箭羽。
以下英文譯文來自Arthur Waley阿瑟韋利的A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems.
RELEASING A MIGRANT 「YEN」 (WILD GOOSE)
At Nine Rivers, in the tenth year, in winter,—heavy snow;
The river-water covered with ice and the forests broken with their load.
九江十年冬大雪，江水生冰樹枝折。
The birds of the air, hungry and cold, went flying east and west;
And with them flew a migrant 「yen,」 loudly clamouring for food.
百鳥無食東西飛，中有旅雁聲最飢。
Among the snow it pecked for grass; and rested on the surface of the ice:
It tried with its wings to scale the sky; but its tired flight was slow.
雪中啄草冰上宿，翅冷騰空飛動遲。
The boys of the river spread a net and caught the bird as it flew;
They took it in their hands to the city-market and sold it there alive.
江童持網捕將去，手攜入市生賣之。
I that was once a man of the North am now an exile here:
Bird and man, in their different kind, are each strangers in the south.
我本北人今譴謫，人鳥雖殊同是客。
And because the sight of an exiled bird wounded an exile’s heart,
I paid your ransom and set you free, and you flew away to the clouds.
見此客鳥傷客人，贖汝放汝飛入雲。
Yen, Yen, flying to the clouds, tell me, whither shall you go?
Of all things I bid you, do not fly to the land of the north-west
雁雁汝飛向何處，第一莫飛西北去。
In Huai-hsi there are rebel bands that have not been subdued;
And a thousand thousand armoured men have long been camped in war.
淮西有賊討未平，百萬甲兵久屯聚。
The official army and the rebel army have grown old in their opposite trenches;
The soldier’s rations have grown so small, they』ll be glad of even you.
官軍賊軍相守老，食盡兵窮將及汝。
The brave boys, in their hungry plight, will shoot you and eat your flesh;
They will pluck from your body those long feathers and make them into arrow-wings!
健兒飢餓射汝吃，拔汝翅翎為箭羽。