Nameless people 詩經 無名氏
c. 8th century BC · Zhou China
My man is away on service, and I do not know for how long. When will he come? The hens are roosting in their holes. The day is ending, and the sheep and cattle come down. My man is away on service. How can I not think of him?
君子于役，不知其期。曷至哉？
雞棲于塒。日之夕矣，羊牛下來。
君子于役，如之何勿思！"My Man Is Away on Service" (Junzi yu yi), Airs of Wang, in the Book of Songs
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Li Bai 李白
8th century · Tang China
Over Chang'an, one slip of moon; from ten thousand houses, the sound of cloth being pounded. The autumn wind blows and cannot blow away all these thoughts of the Jade Pass. When will the frontier be quiet, and my husband come home from the far campaign?
長安一片月，萬戶擣衣聲。
秋風吹不盡，總是玉關情。
何日平胡虜？良人罷遠征。"Ziye Songs of Wu: Autumn," in the Complete Tang Poems
Jeong Mongju 鄭夢周
later 14th century · Goryeo Korea · Written in the voice of a wife whose husband is away at war
Years since we parted, and word comes seldom; who knows if he lives or has died on the frontier? This morning at last I send off his winter clothes, carried by the child who was in my womb when I wept and saw him go.
一別年多消息稀 塞垣存歿有誰知
今朝始寄寒衣去 泣送歸時在腹兒Poeun jip, "A Soldier's Wife's Lament," first poem
Li Shangyin 李商隱
c. 851 · Tang China
You ask the day of my return. There is no day yet. On Ba Mountain the night rain swells the autumn pools. When shall we trim the candle together at the west window and talk of this hour of night rain on Ba Mountain?
君問歸期未有期，巴山夜雨漲秋池。
何當共剪西窗燭，却話巴山夜雨時。"Night Rain, Sent North," in the Complete Tang Poems
Wang Wei 王維
earlier 8th century · Tang China
You have come from my home village, so you must know how things are there. The day you left, by the silk-curtained window, had the winter plum put out its flowers?
君自故鄉來，應知故鄉事。
來日綺窗前，寒梅着花未。The second of three "Miscellaneous Poems"
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