One Pedantic Scholar Between Heaven and Earth

[Intro]

[Verse 1]

The waves of the Yangtze and Han come and go

Washing away fleeting fame and dust

A few more white hairs have appeared

The mountains of home lie far away, deep in dreams

All my life I have read ten thousand volumes through

Cannot buy even a little boat to carry me home

[Pre-Chorus]

A wisp of cloud flies overhead, drifting ever farther away

The moon of this endless night keeps me company in solitude

[Chorus]

The setting sun melts into gold as dusk approaches

The ambition in my heart has never withered

Even these ailing bones cannot halt my steps

Laughingly calling myself a pedantic scholar beneath heaven

The old horse still remembers the road it came by

No need to gallop on a distant journey

[Verse 2]

In dreams I push open the door of home

An old gourd still hangs beneath the eaves

I wake to frost on the boat's planks

The chill creeps into my ailing bones

The clouds traveling with me scatter and gather again

Only moonlight keeps me company in my solitude

[Pre-Chorus]

The autumn wind eases my illness little by little

Beneath the setting sun, my heart still burns as before

[Chorus]

The setting sun melts into gold as dusk approaches

The ambition in my heart has never withered

Even these ailing bones cannot halt my steps

Laughingly calling myself a pedantic scholar beneath heaven

The old horse still remembers the road it came by

No need to gallop on a distant journey

[Instrumental]

[Verse 3]

Some laugh that this horse has grown old

Unable to run a thousand-li journey

Yet with its head lowered, it knows the wind and frost

Where are water and grass, and a house to rest in

A lost traveler leads it along

Even in darkness, they can find their way out of the gorge

[Bridge]

O setting sun, sink a little more slowly

Let me stoke the fire in my heart to its full blaze

Autumn wind, blow all you will

You cannot blow out this candle’s lingering warmth

I admit I am a person of a bygone age

As old as a thread-bound book

But the mountains and rivers tucked inside that old book

Not a single page has blurred yet

[Verse 4]

If one day I can walk no farther

I will blame neither heaven nor a bitter fate

If someone comes to ask the way ahead

I can still paint a landscape of mountains and rivers

The old horse rests beneath the setting sun

With the saddle removed, still as carefree as before

[Final Chorus]

The setting sun melts into gold as dusk approaches

The ambition in my heart has never withered

Even these ailing bones cannot halt my steps

Laughingly calling myself a pedantic scholar beneath heaven

The old horse still remembers the road it came by

No need to gallop on a distant journey

[Outro]

The night over the Jiang and Han rivers has grown cool again

The moon rises, still as lonely as I