"Do you know who I am and how to live?"
"I" is the grassroots living at the bottom, and only you know the embarrassment and hardships of life. You, who are above me, may never know, don't want to know, and don't need to know.
"Do you know/what despair is; Then/winter should mean something to you. "
If you have experienced suffering and despair, and you are not numb, and you still have compassion, then you may understand me.
"I don't expect to live. The earth suppresses me."
I don't really expect to live. Under the pressure of the earth, I doubt life, and I have no hope for the meaning of life!
"I don't expect to wake up again, feel/my body is in wet soil/be able to respond again, remember/how to bloom again after so long/in the early spring/in the cold light-"
"I" don't expect to wake up again, and I don't even expect life anymore. My body has been suppressed in wet soil for too long. But I won't forget that if I bloom, it will still be so beautiful: "In the early spring/cold light-"standing proudly in the ice and snow, that is the charm of "me"!
"Afraid, yes, but once again among you/crying/yes/taking the risk of happiness/in the storm of the new century"
But, "I" am afraid! I'm afraid of you. How much effort, how much crying and how much struggle I have to make for a bloom ... Although the new century is coming, it's an adventure for me to bloom and be happy once in the gale!
With the image of "Snowdrop", the whole poem expresses infinite sympathy and pity for the lower-level "grass roots", which is full of compassion. At the same time, it also expressed dissatisfaction and anger at autocracy and dictatorship.
Let's look at it together:
"I" is the grassroots living at the bottom. Only you know the embarrassment and hardships of life, and the "you" who are above you may never know, don't want to know, and don't need to know.
If you have experienced suffering and despair, and you are not numb, and you still have compassion, then you may understand me.
I don't really expect to live. Under the pressure of the earth, I doubt life, and I have no hope for the meaning of life!
I don't expect to wake up again, and I don't even expect life anymore. My body has been suppressed in wet soil for too long. But I won't forget that if I bloom, it will still be so beautiful: "In the early spring/cold light-"standing proudly in the ice and snow, that is the charm of "me"!
but I'm afraid! I'm afraid of you. How much effort, how much crying and how much struggle I have to make for a bloom ... Although the new century is coming, it's an adventure for me to bloom and be happy once in the gale!