Full moon – a
very rough translation of a famous Chinese poem
I was waiting to have a hair cut. Being totally not interested in the garbage packaged as popular entertainment magazines, I closed my eyes and recited some Chinese poems. Then I thought it might be a good idea to kill time by translating some of them into English. What follows was one of the products.
As one gets older, one becomes more child-like. That’s perhaps my only excuse in self indulgence. And I don’t want to insult the reader’s intelligence by citing the origin.
“When is full moon so fine
Oh heaven please tell me through the wine
Edifice on a pie
Wonder what there is the time
To them I wish to fly
But divine palaces such high
So cold I might die
Dancing under the sky
Where on earth could one find
The moon falling from behind
By the window it shines
Sleeping, never mind
What to complain, thy
When will be next time
People meet and hide
Lunar shapes of all kinds
History is never fine
If lives don’t die
Watch it over thousands of mile”