Qiū Jǐn: Down The Slope Slippery Sliding Is M'beloved Country! 秋瑾 祖國沉淪感不禁 閒來海外覓知音 Poem by Frank Yue

"Down the slope slippery
Sliding is m'beloved Country! "
- by Qiū Jǐn（1875～1907）
the first female Chinese revolutionary martyred
towards the dying days of the Manchu Dynasty
- Translated by Frank C Yue

Down the slope slippery
Sliding is m'Beloved Country!
There goes my lament boundless -
I need to seek and find
More like-minded Comrades fine,
While travelling aboard listless.
The broken golden vase, you see,
Soon mended it must be.
For my Country: Die
Willingly will I!

So lonesome, with obstacles in piles,
For thousands of miles,
Upon thousands of miles,
I will trudge on un-beguiled.
O Do not ever tell me -
Fighting as well as men, women can't be!
My sharp sword hanging on the wall each night
Cries out most eagerly for a good fight!


(2014.08.11)


《祖國沉淪感不禁》 秋瑾


祖國沉淪感不禁， 閒來海外覓知音。
金甌已缺總須補， 為國犧牲敢惜身。

嗟險阻，嘆飄零， 關山萬里作雄行。
休言女子非英物， 夜夜龍泉壁上鳴！