"Sacrifice" Gu Cheng
I will engrave your vow
love
on the candle
See how it is
Drown by tears
Burned by the fire of the heart
See the last thought
How to become extinct
How to be blown away by the wind
June 1980
Appreciation:
"Sacrifice" is a work by Gu Cheng in 1980, when he was just born in the 1980s. The decadent sadness of love expressed in his poem was, I think, rare in that era. Therefore, poetry is an art that can transcend time and stand on history. It can exist in everyone's bones and never decay. A true poet is always a child of the earth. Non-mainstream people are just a group of floating children who cannot find their way and are constantly lost.
This poem contains many non-mainstream emotional elements, that is, a sad and decadent tone, coupled with some profound words and phrases.
"Engrave your vows/love/on the candles." Vows and love are often talked about by non-mainstream people. Engraving them on candles makes this invisible feeling tangible and creates a non-mainstream atmosphere. Typical black and white tones.
"Look at how it is / drowned in tears / burned out by the fire of the heart", absolutely decadent, watching the love and vows shattered, tears flowing freely, the heart has turned into fire and turned into ashes.
"Look at how that last thought/is extinct/is blown away by the wind." Watching the last moment, extinction, sadness, and struggle. But it didn't show up at all, just watching it being blown away by the wind indifferently.
So this poem has non-mainstream elements, but it is poetry, a good poem, not non-mainstream.