Long Ode to Watching Weiqi

Long Ode to Watching Weiqi (观棋长吟) by Shao Yong (邵雍)

院静春深昼掩扉，竹间闲看客争棋。
搜罗神鬼聚胸臆，措致山河入范围。
局合龙蛇成阵闘，劫残鸿雁破行飞。
杀多项羽坑秦卒，败剧苻坚畏晋师。
座上戈鋋尝击搏，面前冰炭旋更移。
死生共抵两家事，胜负都由一著时。
当路断无相假借，对人须且强推辞。
腹心受害诚堪惧，唇齿生忧尚可医。
善用中伤为得策，阴行狡狯谓知机。
请观今日长安道，易地何尝不有之。

In a quiet courtyard in the spring, with evening's light filtering through the leaves, guests relax on the veranda and watch as two compete at wéiqí.
Each calls into themselves the divine and the infernal, sculpting mountains and rivers into their world.
Across the board, dragons and serpents array for battle, geese scatter as collapsing fortresses are sacked;
masses die, pushed into pits by Qin's soldiers, and the drama's audience is left in awe of its General Jin.
To sit at the board is to raise halberd and taste combat, to endure the freezing and brave the flames in the constant changes;
life and death each will come to both masters, but victory and defeat must each go to one.
On this road, one strips away the other's disguises, in life, one must erect one's own facade;
dreadful is a wound to the exposed belly or heart, merely painful is an injury to the face, which can be cured;
Effective is a blow that strikes home in an opponent's back, successful are schemes that use repeated feints and deceit.
Look at the activity on the streets of our capital, if you were to go elsewhere, wouldn't it be the same?

by Shao Yong (1011-1077).