Carrying space, understanding misfortune,
Sweep away the gloomy leather flag,
Conceited things, like charity coins:
On such a cold silver day,
As fragile as a giant's glass sword,
Hidden in many forces, don't let it sigh,
Worried about its tears rolling down, its useless gravel.
Surrounded by intersecting and creaking energy,
Like a shirtless man.
Lift its silver branches, that uncertain heart.
Its salty water drops tremble in the middle ingredients.
How can such a weak and shaky flame rest?
What hope can you hold?
Raise the axe of hunger, and fight with what?
Give up what substance? Avoid what lightning?
Its only length and trembling light.
Dragging the hem of the poor bride's dress
Nightmare pale makeup.
Because everything is touched by darkness, everything is confused.
Hanging high, flowing slowly, without peace,
Unable to defend himself in the air, he was defeated and conquered by death.
Ah, this is the end of a long-awaited day.
It is the purpose of mailing letters, sailing ships and doing business.
It's a stable, damp and dead without space.
Where is its stinking tent? Where are the dense branches and leaves?
Where are its fast-burning clouds and its vibrant breath?
It is motionless, covered with dying light and dim scales,
In the future, I will see the rain split it in half.
In the future, we will see strong winds absorb enough water and launch an invasion.
(translated by Zhao Deming)
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The May Monsoon is one of the poems of Living in the Earth. Living on the Earth is probably Nie Luda's most profound and original work. 1933- 1947 is the age when poets are in spiritual crisis. At that time, his income was meager, what he saw was exploitation and poverty, and he was in contact with colonial bureaucrats and businessmen: "The poems I wrote during this period can only reflect the loneliness of a foreigner who was transplanted to a wild and strange land."
In the third volume of "The Residence of the Earth", he announced: "The world has changed, and so has my poetry." He thinks: "Loneliness does not cultivate the will to write." Therefore, the May Monsoon, written with loneliness, depression and emptiness, has distinct surreal characteristics. Its unique language, continuous simile, dreamy metaphor and urgent semi-oral and semi-formal rhythm also seem to develop spontaneously, and it reads like translation rather than creation. The poet's experience is bumpy. The poet understands that there is only one life, and it will never return. In fact, what is more precious than life for people? The most fundamental reason for the tragedy of life is that everyone will die without exception. The finiteness and infinity of human beings are constantly struggling. Flowers fade easily, * * * disappears, love fades, and diseases torment, all of which prove that life is fading away. Survival is the instinct and inertia of life.
Nie Luda realized that life is a phenomenon, a way of time passing and a manifestation of nature. Deep or shallow, great or small, wise or ignorant, finally, the end of life is equal, and all kinds of life carriers are equally gathered.
"I think therefore I am." Thinking about the moment of death, Nie Luda felt the existence of life. Sometimes he blames himself for being numb, and sometimes he laughs at those who never introspect and are unconscious of life. However, he immediately realized that this was wrong. Regardless of everything inside and outside his heart, he thinks about this life, not this life, a simple life, a complicated life, and the consciousness of life should not be a shackle that binds him. Happiness or pain, positive or pessimistic, these human emotions are shallow.
Life should not be enslaved by outsiders, nor should it be bound by internal self-action. Avoid the bondage of self-action and don't be bound by all kinds of narrowness. For life, there are two seemingly natural constraints, that is, truth and God (or some sense of sacredness). However, Nie Luda thinks that it is unnecessary to liberate people from the sense of truth and sacredness.
In the busy and noisy secular life, when you think hard, ask tirelessly and pursue the meaning of life, Nie Luda will tell you that life is meaningless! Life has no intrinsic meaning, but human beings seem to be an animal that pursues meaning. The important task of mankind is to invent a kind of meaning that can support our lives, and deny our own creation in a cunning way, so as to draw the conclusion that meaning is waiting for us "there". For the meaning of life, we can approach ourselves indirectly, find a possible meaning of living, and learn to be detached. This is the idea that Nie Luda conveyed through his poems.
Strange phrasing and obscure metaphor are the main features of this poem, so it is not easy to read. But for poets, it is a true reflection of psychological contradictions.
(Dang Xiaolin)