⸺ A bilingual anthology of 29 Chinese and English poems
Yiyan Han (c) 2021-02-13
A collection of Chinese poems by him, and their translation by me.
But who's Mr Shang, exactly? Below are his own poetic words:
One sentence can summarize my existence ⸺
'Play violin, write poetry, and love my own woman'.
My life is nothing more, nothing less.
He is the 'Man Who Plants Peach Trees':
When branches are laden with fruits,
Who'd be heartless to pick them
and have a gentle bite?
In 'Search For The Whip Of Soul Torturing', he questions:
Isn't there truth if you don't believe it?
Isn't there honesty if you don't believe it?
Isn't there justice if you don't believe it?
Isn't there love if you don't believe it?
He never grows up and constantly fantasizes about 'A Beauty':
I've encountered the beauty, by chance,
and now am in her trap. I fear nothing
but falling in love with her, my beauty.
Written in 2008, did he predict the pandemic 'Urban Exodus'?
So let's go into hiding to avoid every dusk and dawn,
to escape from the murder scene, ads and trash,
to run away from newspapers full of lies and nonsense,
and devious claws of pseudo-modernization…...
In front of the monster, we tremble with fear.
Let's walk on the long happy road of exodus
for survival and to find a new humanity.
All in all, Mr Shang is full of enthusiasm and love for his own people
as expressed in 'My Country': In winter's freezing cold nights
Or in autumn of good old blue sky and fallen leaves tumbling
on the ground, She has a flagon of fine wine in her hands with new tears
falling from both of her eyes ⸺ This is indeed my country.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
A great achievement, Yiyan ad