20 Short Modern Poems

1. "Some People"

- Memorializing Lu Xun with Feelings (Zang Kejia)

There are people who live

who are dead;

there are people who die

who are still alive.

There are men

who ride on the heads of the people, "Ho, how great I am!"

There are those

who stoop down to be cattle and horses for the people.

Some people

carve their names into stone, wanting to be "immortal";

some people

would rather be weeds, waiting for the fire underground.

There is a man

who lives so that no one else may live;

there is a man

who lives so that the many may live better.

The one who rides on the head of the people

the people wrestle him down;

the one who works as an ox and horse for the people

the people remember him forever!

He who carved his name into stone

The name rots sooner than the corpse;

As long as the spring winds blow

There are green weeds everywhere.

He who lives so that no one else can live,

his downfall can be seen;

he who lives for the betterment of the majority,

the crowd lifts him high and high.

--Zang Kejia, Beijing, November 1, 1949

2. "Nostalgia"

(Yu Guangzhong)

When I was a child,

nostalgia was a small stamp,

I was at this end,

and my mother was at that end.

When I grew up,

Nostalgia was a narrow boat ticket,

I was at this end,

the bride was at that end.

Later,

Nostalgia is a short grave,

I am on the outside,

Mother is on the inside.

And now,

nostalgia is a shallow strait,

I am at this end,

the mainland is at that end.

3. "Stagnant Water"

(Wen Yiduo)

This is a ditch of desperate stagnant water,

The breeze can't make a ripple.

How about throwing more broken brass and iron,

Splashing your leftovers.

Perhaps the copper to green into emerald,

The iron pot rusted out a few petals of peach blossom;

And then let the grease weave a layer of Luo Yi,

Mold to him to steam out some clouds.

Let the stagnant water leaven into a ditch of green wine,

drifting with pearl-like white foam;

The little beads laugh and turn into big beads,

and are bitten through by the flower mosquitoes that steal the wine.

Then a ditch of desperate stagnant water,

qualifies for a few moments of starkness.

If the frogs can't stand the loneliness,

And count the stagnant water called out a song.

This is a ditch of desperate stagnant water,

Here is no place for beauty,

It would be better to let the ugliness reclaim it,

and see what kind of world it makes.

4. "Farewell to Kangqiao"

(Xu Zhimo)

Gently I go,

just as I gently come;

I gently wave my hand,

as I bid farewell to the clouds of the western sky.

The golden willows along the river,

are the bride in the sunset;

the colorful shadows in the waves,

swirl in my heart.

The green floating heart on the soft mud,

oiled and waving under the water;

in the soft waves of the Kang River,

I am willing to be a water plant!

The pool under the shade of the elm,

is not a clear spring, but a rainbow in the sky;

crumbled among the floating algae,

precipitating a rainbow-like dream.

Seeking a dream? Holding a Penny,

To the grass is even more green back;

Laden with a boat full of starlight,

In the starlight splendor to sing.

But I can't play a song,

Silence is the parting psalm;

Summer bugs are silent for me, too,

Silence is tonight's Kangqiao!

Quietly I go,

just as I come quietly;

I wave my sleeve,

without taking away a cloud.

5. "Shayan Nara - A Song for a Japanese Woman"

(Xu Zhimo)

Most of all, it is the gentleness of a bowed head,

like the shyness of a water lotus flower which is not able to overcome the cool wind,

Saying "Precious",

Saying "Precious"

There is honey in that precious sound,

. >There is a honey-sweet sorrow in that one precious word-

Shayanara!

6. "Facing the Sea, Blooming Flowers in Spring"

(Hai Zi)

From tomorrow, be a happy man

Feed the horses, split the firewood, and travel the world

From tomorrow, care for the food and the vegetables

I have a house,

facing the sea, blooming in spring

from tomorrow, correspond with each and every one of my relatives

From tomorrow onwards, I have a house that faces the sea, and blooms in spring

I have a house that faces the sea and blooms in spring. One loved one corresponds

Tell them about my happiness

That happy lightning told me

I'll tell everyone

Give every river and every mountain a warm name

Stranger, my blessings to you, too

May you have a splendid future

May you have a lover who will be happy in the end

A lilac-like girl with a sad heart.

She has the color of lilacs,

the fragrance of lilacs,

the sadness of lilacs,

sadness in the rain,

sadness and wandering;

She wanders in the lonely rainy alleys,

with an umbrella in her hand

Like me,

Like me,

I hope to meet a girl with a sorrow like lilacs. Like me, she walked in silence,

coldly, forlornly, and despondently.

She approached

She approached in silence, and casting a

too-breathless gaze,

she drifted through

like a dream,

like a dream, poignant and bewildered.

Like a dream drifting past

A sprig of lilac,

This wench drifted past me;

She was silent and far, far away,

To the decrepit hedge wall,

Walking down this rainy lane.

In the dirge of the rain,

dissipated her color,

dispersed her fragrance

dissipated, even her

taiyo-like gaze,

lilac-like melancholy.

Holding an oil-paper umbrella, alone

wandering in the long, long

and lonesome rainy alleys,

I hope to float past

a lilac-like

girl with a sadness.

8. "Worry"

(Dai Wangshu)

Say it is the sorrow of the lonely autumn,

say it is the love of the distant sea;

If someone asks me about my worry,

I don't dare to say your name.

I don't dare to say your name:

If someone asks me about my worries,

say it's the acacia of the distant sea;

say it's the sadness of the lonely autumn.------

9. "In Front of the Doorway"

(Gu cheng)

How I wish that there was a doorway

In the morning, the sun shines on the Grass

We stand

Holding our own doorway

The door is low, but the sun is bright

The grass is bearing its seed

The wind is shaking its leaves

We stand, and without saying a word

It is very good

There's a doorway, and it doesn't have to be opened

It's ours, and it's very beautiful

Morning, and the night has to wander

We give him the six-stringed lute

We don't go away

We need the land

We need the land that will never perish

We're going to ride on it

Throughout our lives

The land is rough, and sometimes narrow

And yet, it has History

A share of the sky, a share of the moon

A share of the dew and the mornings

We loved the land

We stood

digging in the dirt with our wooden shoes

and the door was hot from the sun

We leaned gently, and it was very nice

The grass behind the wall

doesn't grow up anymore

It only touches the sunlight with its fingertips

10. "Far and Near"

(Gu Cheng)

You,

look at me for a while,

and at the clouds for a while.

I think,

You are far away when you look at me,

and close when you look at the clouds.

11. "Generation"

(Gu Cheng)

The night gave me black eyes,

but I used them to look for light.

12. "The Alley"

(Gu Cheng)

The alley

is curved and long

There is no door

There is no window

I took an old key

and knocked on the thick wall

13. "A Bundle of Lights"

(Bei Dao)

Between the World and Me

You are the bay, the sail

The faithful ends of the cable

You are the fountain, the wind

The clear cry of childhood

Between me and the world

You are the frame, the window

The field full of wildflowers

You are the breath, the head of the bed

The companion of the stars night

between me and the world

You are the calendar, the compass

the light that glides in the darkness

You are the résumé, the bookmark

the preamble that is written at the end

between me and the world

You are the veil, the fog

the lamp that is reflected in the dream

You are the mouth flute

It is the wordless song

It is the lowered eyes of a stone sculpture

Between me and the world

You are the chasm, you are the swamp

It is the sinking abyss

You are the fence, you are the wall

It is the perpetual pattern on the shield

14. "The Answer"

(Beidao)

Being vile Is the passport of the vile,

The noble is the epitaph of the noble.

Behold, in that gilded sky,

floats the bent reflection of the dead.

The glacial age is past,

Why is there ice everywhere?

The Cape of Good Hope is found,

Why are there a thousand sails in the Dead Sea?

I came into this world

with only paper, rope and figure.

To read the voices of those sentenced before the judgment

.

Tell you what, world,

I-don't-phase-it!

Even if you have a thousand challengers at your feet,

then count me as the one thousand and one.

I don't believe that the sky is blue,

I don't believe in the echo of thunder,

I don't believe that dreams are false,

I don't believe that there is no retribution for death.

If the ocean is doomed to burst its banks,

let all the bitter water pour into my heart.

If the land is destined to rise,

Let mankind choose again the peaks of existence.

New turnings and glittering stars,

are filling the unclouded sky,

that of five thousand years of hieroglyphics,

that of the eyes of the people of the future gazing.

15. "Mistakes"

(Zheng Chouyu)

I have walked through Jiangnan

The face that waits for the seasons is like the blossoming and falling of a lotus flower

The east wind doesn't come, and the willows don't fly in March

Your heart is like a small, lonely city

It is like a verdant stone street toward the evening

The sound of footsteps doesn't come, and the curtains of the spring in March don't lift

This is not the time to make a sound, and the curtains of the spring in March don't lift.

Your heart is like a small, lonely city

My horse's hooves are a beautiful mistake

I'm not a returnee, I'm just a passerby ......

16. "A Blossoming Tree"

(Ximurong)

How did you meet me

At my most beautiful moment, I was in the middle of the night, when I was in the middle of the night.

In my most beautiful moment

For this

I have begged the Buddha for five hundred years

for it to let us have an earthly relationship

The Buddha then transformed me into a tree

Growing by the side of the road where you must pass by

Discreetly blooming under the sunlight

Each of them is a hope from my past life

When you Approach

Please listen carefully

The trembling leaves are the passion I've been waiting for

And you finally walk by unnoticed

And behind you falls a ground of

Friends That's not the petals of a flower

It's my fading heart

17. "To the Oak Tree"

(Shu Ting)

If I love you --

Never be like the climbing campion,

borrowing your high branches to show off myself;

If I love you--

Never be like the infatuated bird,

repeating monotonous songs for the shade of green songs;

nor more than like a fountain,

which sends cool solace all the year round;

nor more than like a perilous peak,

which adds to your height and sets off your majesty.

Even daylight,

even spring rains.

No, none of these are enough!

I must be a kapok near you,

standing with you as the image of a tree.

Roots, clasped in the ground;

Leaves, touching each other in the clouds.

With every wind that passes,

we greet each other,

but no one,

hears our words.

You have your brass and iron trunks,

like swords, like swords, and like halberds;

I have my red and fruitful flowers,

like heavy sighs,

and like valiant torches.

We share the cold, the thunder, the lightning;

We **** enjoy the mist, the flow, the rainbow.

It seems as if we are separated forever,

yet we are attached for life.

That's great love,

and here's where the steadfastness comes in:

Love-

not only your great body,

but also the place you hold on to,

the ground beneath your feet.

18 "The Crescent Moon"

(Sha'o)

The crescent moon is curved,

like a small boat.

I return in a boat,

Crossing thousands of mountains.

The flowers smell. The night is warm.

It is spring in my hometown.

Are you asleep?

I docked in your dream.

19. "The Broken Chapter"

(Bian Zhilin)

You are standing on a bridge looking at the scenery,

The people looking at the scenery are looking at you from upstairs.

The bright moon decorates your window,

you decorate other people's dreams.

20. "The Silence of Banzaguru Baima"

(Zahiram Dodo)

You see, or you don't see me,

I am there,

not sad or happy.

You remember, or you don't remember me,

the love is there,

not coming or going.

You love, or you don't love me,

love is there,

not increasing or decreasing.

You follow, or you don't follow me,

My hand is in yours,

Not giving up.

Come into my arms,

or, let me live in your heart.

Silence Love each other,

Silence Rejoice.