Poem: In The Temple of the First King of Shu 唐诗《蜀先主庙》

Xiānzhǔ Miào
蜀先主庙
Liú Yǔxī （Táng ）
刘禹锡 （唐）

Tiāndì yīngxióng qì, qiānqiū shàng lǐnrán.
天地英雄气，千秋尚凛然。
Shì fēn sānzúdǐng, yè fù wǔzhūqián.
势分三足鼎，业复五铢钱。
Dé xiàng néng kāi guó, shēng ér bú xiàng xián.
得相能开国，生儿不象贤。
Qīliáng shǔ gùjì, lái wǔ Wèi Gōng qián.
凄凉蜀故妓，来舞魏宫前。

evaluation

刘备的英雄气概顶天立地，历经千秋万代依然威风凛凛。
He spirit of the hero Liu Bei, first king of Shu, can undertake a Herculean task, this remains awe-inspiring through lives and reigns thousands of years.

战乱中开创蜀汉三分天下，立誓复兴汉室。
Having created the one third of the Three Kingdoms in the wars, he swore to rejuvenate the Han Dynasty.
得到贤明丞相孔明开国建业，生了个儿子却不争气。
Though he was able to choose a great premier to magnify his kingdom, he got a son failing to live up to his expectations.

可怜蜀汉宫廷的歌妓们，如今却在魏王的殿前轻歌曼舞。
It’s a pity that the girls of the Shu Kingdom court were taken captive, and now are singing and dancing in the palace of the Wei Kingdom.
蜀先主，是指东汉末年三国中的刘备。他的庙在夔州（今重庆奉节县）白帝山上。“五铢钱”是汉朝从公元前118年开始使用的一种钱币，后来王莽将它废弃。到了东汉，光武帝刘秀又恢复了五铢钱。这里用恢复汉朝的钱币制度来暗喻刘备振兴汉室的志向。
The first king of Shu refers to Liu Bei in late Eastern Han Dynasty. The temple to him is located on top of the Baidi Hill of Kuizhou (in the Fengjie County of Chongqing Municipality now). “五铢钱(Wǔzhūqián)” was the currency used in the Han Dynasty since 118 B.C. and was afterward abandoned by Wang Mang (usurper of the Han Dynasty and the founder of the Xin Dynasty). The currency was desterilized by Liu Xiu, the Emperor of Guangwu, in the Eastern Han Dynasty. The poem uses this historical fact as a metaphor to show Liu Bei's ambition to rejuvenate the Han Dynasty.
第一、二句写刘备是顶天立地的英雄，即使经过了千百年，在他的庙前仍然能感觉到凛然英雄气。第三、四句写刘备的功绩，刘备奋斗半生，终于建立了蜀汉，形成曹操、孙权三分天下之势。第五、六句是叹息刘备没有能完成统一天下的大业。虽然他得到诸葛亮的辅佐，开建了蜀国，却没有教育好自己的儿子。最后两句感慨刘备的儿子刘禅的昏庸无能。作者用这首诗来赞誉英雄，鄙薄庸碌。
The first two lines say that Liu Bei is a hero that stands upright on his feet between heaven and earth, and one can still feel his magnificent heroic spirit outliving for thousands of years when standing in front of his temple. The third and fourth lines sum up Liu Bei’s achievements in his life. He founded the Kingdom of Shu, occupying one third of the country. The fifth and the sixth lines sighed that Liu Bei didn't realize his ambition of unifying China nevertheless. Though he has got the great think-tanker Zhuge Liang as the premier and thus founded the Kindom of Shu, he failed to educate his own son well. The last two lines deplore that the successor of Liu Bei, his son Liu Chan, was muddleheaded and incompetent. The poet admires the hero and despises the mediocre and incapable.
诗中还用了一个“乐不思蜀”的典故。刘禅投降魏国后，被俘虏到洛阳。一天，魏国的司马昭宴请刘禅，席中故意演奏蜀国的歌舞，在场的蜀国人都为故国的灭亡伤心流泪，只有刘禅嬉笑喝酒，就像什么都没有发生一样，被问及是否思念故国时，刘禅说：“此间乐，不思蜀。”后来，人们就常把乐以忘返或乐而忘本，无故国故土之思，称作“乐不思蜀”了。
Implied in the poem is another allusion called “乐不思蜀(lèbùsīshǔ)(indulge in pleasure and forget home and duty)”. After Liu Chan surrendered to the Wei Kingdom, he was kept captive in Luoyang. At a banquet given by Sima Zhao of the Wei Kingdom, songs and dances of the Shu were performed on purpose. All the people from the former Shu Kingdom shed tears for the fall of their country when heard the music and saw the dances but for Liu Chan, who was happily playing and drinking, as if nothing had happened. When asked whether he missed his home country, Liu replied:" I am too happy to think about Shu". Later, people often describe those who indulge themselves in pleasure and forget to go back home or forget their past humiliations as “乐不思蜀”.
Explanation

赞誉（zànyù）：v. praise
鄙薄（bǐbó）：v. despise
废弃（fèiqì）：v. abandon
俘虏（fúlǔ）：n. prisoner of war; v. capture
嬉笑（xīxiào）：v. laugh, banter
顶天立地（dǐngtiān lìdì）：adj. upright and high-minded; heroic and absolutely fearless
凛然（lǐnrán）：adj. stern, awe-inspiring
统一（tǒngyī）：v. unify
辅佐（fúzuǒ）：v. (usually formally)help, second
昏庸无能（hūnyōng wúnéng）：adj. stupid and incompetent