《短歌行》是漢末政治家、文學家曹操以樂府古題創作的一首詩。通過宴會的歌唱，以沉穩頓挫的筆調抒寫了詩人求賢如渴的思想和統一天下的雄心壯志。

　　《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.