Earthquake Poetry in the NYTimes
![A stunned Chinese bride and groom moments after the earthquake struck during their wedding-photo shoot. (AP) [via The Lede]](http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/05/23/world/wedding_blog_533.jpg)
Looks like the Sichuan aftershocks have reached the blogosphere in literary form. Alternate translation posted at Blue Sky – Tony.
The Road to Heaven is Too Dark
Author unknown [via Andrew Revkin]
| 孩子 快 抓紧妈妈的手 去天堂的路 妈妈怕你 快 抓紧妈妈的手 让妈妈陪你走 妈妈 天堂的路 我看不见你的手 把阳光夺走 我再也看不见 孩子 前面的路 没有读不完的课本 和爸爸的拳头 来生还要一起走 妈妈 天堂的路有些挤 有很多同学朋友 不哭 哪一个人的妈妈都是我们的妈妈 哪一个孩子都是妈妈的孩子 没有我的日子 你把爱给活的孩子吧 妈妈 你别哭 让我们自己 妈妈 我会记住你和爸爸的模样 |
Child Hurry up Tightly hold your Mom’s hand The road to heaven Mom is afraid that Hurry up Tightly hold your Mom’s hand Let Mom keep you company Mom The road to heaven I cannot see your hand it took the sun light away I cannot see Child the road in front of you there are no books that you cannot finish reading and your father’s fist let’s finish walking this road together in our next life Mom the road to heaven is a bit crowded I have a lot classmates and friends don’t cry anyone’s Mom is our Mom any child is Mom’s child the days without me give your love to the children alive Mom don’t cry let us Mom I will remember your face and father’s face |
beautiful poem. the picture is amazing too. it’s a really touching expression of the whole vague idea of heaven and reincarnation which opens spirituality up to a universal reading as opposed to just buddhism. this poem is very chinese, and yet it also has an appeal that transcends cultural boundaries.
I dunno if this is part of what you’re getting at, but the poem is even more spiritual / stream-of-consciousness in the original Chinese. The translation is inevitably a little clunky at certain lines. Also, if you’ve read Toni Morrison’s Beloved, there is a chapter near the end with a poem that echoes the themes of loss of a child here, but with the added literary touches of raw historical trauma, shame, and guilt:
“You are my face; I am you. Why did you leave me who am you?
I will never leave you again
Don’t ever leave me again”
For some reason the chinese doesn’t show up completely on my laptop, but I can get the gist of it. It is very stream-of-consciousness, especially in the way the perspective switches without much warning. I haven’t read Beloved, but I’ve read other Toni Morrison and I mean, they all have themes of childhood and loss and grief and stuff, so I get what you’re saying.