The Horse with Bloody Sweat
Niu Han

The only rivers are beyond the vast Gobi Desert
The only grasslands are beyond the vast sandy waste

In windless July and August
The Gobi is a domain of fire
Only by running at a full gallop
With all the four hooves off the ground
Can the horse feel a waft of wind about its breast
Can it dash through the vast expanse of sultry floating dust

The sweat has been licked dry by the thirsty dust and grit
The sweat has coagulated into white stripes on its coat

The sweat has gone dry
The bile ahs gone dry
The piercing gaze ready for a sprint into the open space
And the cramped muscles on its broad shoulders
All tacitly seek help from its inner being
From the shoulders and haunches
Beads of blood ooze out one by one
All over this world
Only the horse with bloody sweat
Has its blood vessel and sweat gland connected together

There are no wings on its shoulders
Its hooves cannot ride wind
Nor does it know of the wonderful fairy tale in man’s world
The horse only keeps galloping forward
Its evaporating bloody sweat looks like crimson cloud
In order to climb across the snowbound mountain slopes
And to pierce through the frozen cloud and mist
Its life keeps burning spontaneously

When the last drop of its blood is drained
It still can keep galloping for a thousand li

The horse with bloody sweat
Collapses on the summit of its life
Incinerating itself
Into a snow-white flower.