With the strength to lift mountains and spirit to cover the world,
Yet with time not on my side, my steed refuses to advance.
The steed refuses to advance, what can be done,
Oh Yu Ji, oh Yu Ji, what fate shall you have?
...
This was the "Song of Gaixia" sighed by Xiang Yu, the Western Chu Overlord, when defeated at the Battle of Gaixia and surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Liu Bang's troops.
At that moment, for Xiang Yu, the situation was irredeemable, with enemies closing in on all sides.
He knew in his heart that continuing the battle would only lead to certain death, so he uttered a mournful song and wrote this poem.
On the surface, the poem reflects Xiang Yu's lament of his heroic spirit, once with the strength to overturn mountains and a mighty presence that commanded the age; then it follows with lamentations about his plight, with unfavorable destiny leading to his steed's inability to charge...
