History
對酒當歌 人生幾何
“With wine before us, we ought to sing. For how long is a life? Like morning dew — and so many days already gone.”
— Cao Cao曹操
ko술을 앞에 두었으면 마땅히 노래할 일이다. 인생이 얼마나 된다고 — 아침 이슬처럼 짧은데, 지나간 날은 많기도 하구나.
ja酒を前にしたなら、まさに歌うべきだ。人生はどれほどのものか — 朝露のように短く、過ぎ去った日々はあまりに多い。
The scene behind the words
The opening of Cao Cao’s most famous song. It begins as a sigh over life’s brevity, but the poem resolves not into hedonism — it builds to his hunger to gather the realm’s talent and finish his great work. The novel stages it at the banquet on the eve of Red Cliffs, as dramatic foreshadowing.
Source: Cao Cao’s "Short Song"