Original text:
Paper Boat - Send to Mother
(Bing Xin)
I never abandon a piece of paper.
Always keep it - keep it,
fold it into small boats,
throw it from the boat into the sea.
Some were blown by the wind into the windows of the boat,
Some were wetted by the waves and were on the bow.
I am still not discouraged and keep doing it every day.
I always hope that one of them will flow to where I want him to go.
Mother, if you see a small white boat in your dream,
Don’t be surprised that it fell into your dream for no reason.
This is your beloved daughter’s tearful message, and it has traveled through thousands of rivers and mountains.
May it carry her love and sorrow back home.
Appreciation:
The first stanza of the poem starts from his innocent and childlike behavior-origami boat, saying that he refused to throw away a piece of paper on the ship and kept it. It was folded into a boat and thrown overboard. The seemingly plain four lines pave the way for an emotional outburst. The second section describes the whereabouts of the paper boats thrown from the ship. "Some were blown into the windows of the boat by the wind, and some were wetted by the waves and stuck to the bow." These kinds of destinations are not consistent. The poet's sincere wish. She "always hopes that one will flow to where I want it to go." For this reason, she "still folds it every day without getting discouraged." This shows how strong and sincere her desire is. As for where he hopes the paper boat will flow, the poet does not clearly say it in this section, which creates suspense and is thought-provoking. The poet naturally understood that it was impossible for the paper boat to flow to his mother, so he created a new meaning in the third stanza of the poem. The poet recalled that his mother saw a small white boat in her dream. If this imagination is ordinary, "don't be surprised that it fell into a dream for no reason", which shows the strangeness of the poet's imagination. So, why should the mother not be surprised when the boat enters the dream? The poet adopts the method of "showing his ambition in the final chapter". At the end of the poem, he points out that the paper boat that entered the mother's dream in her imagination was folded by her with tears. She prayed The paper boat carried her love for her mother and the sadness caused by being away from her mother to her mother's side. This ending is the climax of the whole poem.
The feelings of missing my mother are relatively abstract and tend to be empty and superficial when writing. This poem has a novel concept, and the poet uses the method of expressing emotions through objects, so that the expression of emotions is vivid, concrete, implicit, and deep. In addition, the poem's longer lines and slow tone are in harmony with the long longing for the mother.