《短歌行》是漢末政治家、文學家曹操以樂府古題創(chuàng)作的一首詩。通過宴會的歌唱，以沉穩(wěn)頓挫的筆調抒寫了詩人求賢如渴的思想和統(tǒng)一天下的雄心壯志。

　　《短歌行》

　　曹操

　　對酒當歌，人生幾何?

　　譬如朝露，去日苦多。

　　慨當以慷，憂思難忘。

　　何以解憂，唯有杜康。

　　青青子衿，悠悠我心。

　　但為君故，沉吟至今。

　　呦呦鹿鳴，食野之蘋。

　　我有嘉賓，鼓瑟吹笙。

　　明明如月，何時可掇。

　　憂從中來，不可斷絕。

　　越陌度阡，枉用相存。

　　契闊談宴，心念舊恩。

　　月明星稀，烏鵲南飛。

　　繞樹三匝，何枝可依?

　　山不厭高，海不厭深。

　　周公吐哺，天下歸心。

　　《短歌行》英文翻譯

　　A Short-Song Ballad

　　Cao Cao

　　The wine, the song, life goes on —

　　But for how long?

　　It evaporates, to our dismay,

　　Like the morning dew, day after day.

　　Ambition and aspiration sustain me,

　　But a secret thread of grief worries me.

　　How can I brush it aside

　　But by drowning it in wine?

　　Scholars, scholars, where are you?

　　Years I have chanted the song of yearning —

　　But would you ever come over to me?

　　Deer are calling from the field, grazing

　　On the tender marsilea.

　　Let my house be graced with a learned visitor,

　　I will have music played in his honour.

　　But he is as bright as the moon,

　　And how could I make a moon stay?

　　Here my sorrows surface and swell,

　　And refuse to go away.

　　Talented friends, whom I love, I treasure,

　　For a rendezvous no journey is too long!

　　Would you mind coming, to our meeting,

　　To our feast, back to old-days' feeling?

　　The stars so dim, the moon so bright,

　　Southbound birds are flying, circling

　　Round and round over the tree —

　　On which bough are you alight?

　　The water can never be too deep,

　　And the mountain too high.

　　When an open-minded king calls for talent,

　　It is him the would must stand by.