Horse Poems (No. 5 in a Series of Twenty-Three) - Li He
/马诗二十三首(其五) - 李贺/
Where a Gallant Horse Aspires to the Western Sky
龙脊贴连钱，
The dragon-like spine pressed with coin-shaped scales,
银蹄白踏烟。
Silver hooves tread pale upon rising mist.
无人织锦褥，
No one weaves a brocade saddle mat,
谁为铸金鞭？
Who will forge a golden whip?
走马西来欲到天，
Galloping westward, the steed seems to charge toward the heavens;
君看灞上飞尘眼中血，
Look there at the Ba River’s swirling dust, red in his eyes—
终为阵上军士牵。
In the end, he is led by soldiers onto the battlefield.
The dragon-like spine pressed with coin-shaped scales,
银蹄白踏烟。
Silver hooves tread pale upon rising mist.
无人织锦褥，
No one weaves a brocade saddle mat,
谁为铸金鞭？
Who will forge a golden whip?
走马西来欲到天，
Galloping westward, the steed seems to charge toward the heavens;
君看灞上飞尘眼中血，
Look there at the Ba River’s swirling dust, red in his eyes—
终为阵上军士牵。
In the end, he is led by soldiers onto the battlefield.
This fifth poem in Li He’s celebrated series of twenty-three horse poems exemplifies his hallmark fusion of dynamic imagery and subtle commentary on the fate of martial steeds—and perhaps, by analogy, the warrior spirit.
He begins with an almost mythical portrait: the horse’s spine described as bearing ‘coin-shaped scales’ likened to a dragon, immediately granting a sense of majesty and power. ‘Silver hooves’ treading on rising mist conjures a dreamlike picture, suggesting both the horse’s speed and its near-supernatural grace.
Yet no one tends to this magnificent creature with the regal trappings (the ‘brocade saddle mat’ or a ‘golden whip’) it might deserve. With swift compression, Li He captures the horse’s sublime potential—racing westward as though it could touch the sky—only to shift the mood in the final lines. We see the dust-choked reality near the Ba River, the horse’s eyes bloodshot with exertion or sorrow. Ultimately, for all its grandeur, the stallion becomes just another warhorse ‘led by soldiers onto the battlefield.’
In these seven lines, Li He thus paints an arc of aspiration and disillusion. The poem subtly questions how a being of such beauty and power becomes ensnared in the machinery of war, unable to fulfill a loftier destiny. It resonates as a broader reflection on human ambitions as well: we may feel destined for greatness, only to find ourselves subject to the demands of circumstance.
While brief, the poem demonstrates Li He’s deft ability to blend the heroic and the tragic in a single swift stroke. In presenting a horse that seems almost divine yet ends up in the dusty throng of battle, Li He leaves the reader with a nuanced, poignant echo of noble hopes thwarted by harsh reality. Even centuries later, his lines stir our empathy for any creature (or person) caught in the crosscurrents of grand dreams and mortal duty.
Key points
• Li He fuses mythic imagery (dragon-like spine) with the physical reality of a warhorse.
• The poem moves from lofty grandeur to sobering earthly fate.
• It underscores themes of aspiration (charging westward to the sky) versus duty (the battlefield).
• The horse’s final image reflects a larger commentary on wasted potential and the cost of warfare.
