Dark nights endowed me with eyes for darkness
Yet with them I seek light
translated by Fang Dai, Dennis Ding, & Edward Morin
note: Written in response to the Cutural Revolution but yet it seems appropriate for these times, too.
Gu Cheng
One Generation by Gu Cheng
Dark night endowed me with eyes for darkness
yet with them I seek light
translated by Fang Dai, Dennis Ding, & Edward Morin
Parting by Gu Cheng
In spring,
You delicately waved your handkerchief.
Were you telling me to go far away?
Or to come back at once?
No, it doesn’t mean anything
And doesn’t amount to anything.
It’s like a flower fallen into the river,
Like a pearl of dew resting on the flower.
Only the shadows comprehend,
Only the wind perceives,
Only the richly colored butterfly startled by a sigh
Keeps flying back over the heart of the flower. . .
translated by Fang Dai, Dennis Ding, & Edward Morin
Far and Close by Gu Cheng
You
Look a while at me,
Look a while at a cloud.
I feel
You are far away while looking at me,
So very close while looking at the cloud.
translated by Fang Dai, Dennis Ding, & Edward Morin
from Reunion by Design by Gu Cheng
Once the heart is at rest
The blood still has to flow for many more years
translated by Fang Dai, Dennis Ding, & Edward Morin
Farewell by Gu Cheng
Today
You and I
Are stepping over that venerable threshold
Don’t offer blessings
Don’t say goodbye
To do so would sound like a performance
Better to keep silence
Concealing isn’t necessarily deceptive
Why not leave memories for the future
Just as we leave dreams in the night
Or tears in the sea
And wind in the sails
translated by Fang Dai, Dennis Ding, & Edward Morin
Leonard Durso 