Original text:
The Song of Lime
[Ming Dynasty] Yu Qian
Thousands of hammers carved out the mountains, and the fire burned them as if nothing happened.
Don’t be afraid of your bones being shattered into pieces, you must remain innocent in this world.
Translation:
Lime is mined from the mountains after tens of thousands of hits and knocks. It treats burning as a common thing. Don't be afraid even if your body is broken, as long as you keep your noble moral character in this world.
Notes:
Lime Chant: Lime Hymn.
Yin: a name for an ancient poetry genre. (A form of ancient poetry)
Strike: impact, carve.
Thousands and ten thousand: refers to the number of impacts, not actually one thousand and ten thousand, it is an exaggeration.
If it’s easy: It’s like normal things. If: as if; leisurely: ordinary, relaxed.
Innocence: refers to noble sentiment. Thousands of hammers and thousands of chisels: Countless hammer blows to excavate.
Human world: the human world.
Hammer: to strike.
Brief analysis: This is a poem that expresses ambitions. The author uses lime as a metaphor. The whole poem praises the tenacity of lime and expresses his noble sentiments of being strong and unyielding, being pure and innocent on the road of life, and his thoughts and feelings of fighting against evil forces to the end.
After tens of thousands of hammerings of lime quarried from the mountains, the burning of the blazing fire seems like a normal thing. No need to be afraid even if your body is broken into pieces, just to keep a piece of innocence in the world.