The poems we often read in English were originally written in English, meaning the origin is limited to a few locations. Very few times do we get to read and understand the raw emotions expressed by poems of other countries, such as those in East Asia. The language barrier does indeed make it hard to appreciate the creative weaving of words, but the story behind the words can still be grasped. Here is a translated poem from China:
书哀
by 梅尧臣 (Mei Yaochen)
Heaven’s already taken my wife,
Now it’s also taken my son.
My two eyes are still not dry,
My heart desires only death.
Rain falls and soaks into the earth,
A pearl sinks into the ocean’s depths.
Dive in the sea and you can seek the pearl,
Dig in the earth and you can see the water.
Only people return to the source below.
For all of time. This we know.
I hold my chest; to whom now can I turn?
Emaciated, a ghost in the mirror.
This poem is amazing in every way and have such complexity, but I especially like the beginning lines and the culture it expresses.
The first poem’s title, 书哀 (pronounced shu’ai), can be translated as “Writing of My Sorrow.” It described the feelings of the tragic losses of Mei, while also touching upon the topic of death. Though the translation doesn’t hold well together, the original Chinese consists of lines in the poem to be 5 syllables each. Because of this, the grammar is limited (more phrases than sentences), and words are abbreviated, but the meaning is still strong.
The first two lines are blunt. They both give background information, yet also set the tone for the rest of the poem. The introduction of death where it’s “heaven” taking the people away is a lighter method of saying someone died, and the leading in the next line “my two eyes are still not dry” invokes strong sympathy in the reader. (If the line of death were more bland, then the reader’s reaction would be indifferent.) The rest of the poem, the pondering upon of death, doesn’t have the heavy darkness as if it would have when read alone.
A big cultural value I see is that death isn’t a hard end. It’s a graceful, beautiful leap into the next life. While East Asian countries treat death-related things as bad luck, it is not something that is too feared. The loss of a loved one is feared and torn over, but death itself? Not so much. Especially in the line, “My heart desires only death,” Mei wants death to reunite with others who have left. The last lines, “I hold my chest; to whom now can I turn? Emaciated, a ghost in the mirror,” also give a bit of a turn around that can be interpreted in Mei himself ends up dying himself. He looks in the mirror and sees a ghost, which is what he became. There isn’t anything about remorse of his death, but a an answer to his previous question. Now that he is dead, he can turn to those he has lost and be with them.
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