Sharing my beloved ancient Chinese poem

山坡羊·潼关怀古 张养浩

峰峦如聚，波涛如怒，山河表里潼关路。望西都，意踌躇。 伤心秦汉经行处，宫阙万间都做了土。兴，百姓苦；亡，百姓苦。

Tune: “Sheep on the Hillside” —Tong Pass

Zhang Yanghao

Translated by Wayne Schlepp

Peaks as if massed,

Waves that look angry,

Along the mountains and the river lies the road to Tong Pass.

I look to the West Capital,

My thoughts unsettled.

Here, where the Qin and Han armies passed, I lament

The ten thousand palaces, all turned to dust.

Kingdoms rise,

The people suffer;

Kingdoms fall,

The people suffer.

Do not call me, father, do not seek me, Do not call me, do not wish me back.

We’re on a route uncharted, fire and blood erase our tracks. On we fly, on wings of thunder, never more to sheath our swords. All of us in battle fallen, not to be brought back by words.

Will there be a rendezvous? I know not. I only know we still must fight. We are sand grains in infinity, never to meet,never more see light.

Farewell then my son. Farewell then my conscience. My youth and my solace my one and my only.

And let this farewell be the end of a story, Of solitude vast and which none is more lonely. In which you remain,barred forever and ever, From light and from air,with your death pangs untold. Untold and unsoothed, not to be resurrected. Forever and ever, an 18 year old.

Farewell then, no trains ever come from those regions Unscheduled or scheduled, no aeroplanes fly there. Farewell then my son, for no miracles happen, As in this world dreams do not come true.

Farewell…

I will dream of you still as a baby, Treading the earth with little strong toes, The earth where already so many lie buried. This song to my son, is come to its close.

Son (Pavel Antokolsky, 1943)