Written and translated by: Yue Xing **** Yitkbel
Originally in Chinese as lyrics on:
August 19, 2020
Translated into English on:
August 22, 2020
I
The wise man in the desert
Watches over the child
In the fields of gold.
The child in the fields of gold
Gazes at the zealous youth
At the foot of the mountain,
Climbing, climbing, climbing.
Wanting to bask untamed
Right beneath the fiery sun,
Wanting to tame the quiet moon
Crush it beneath his feet.
The feat of man.
The support and brace
Of morality and faith
To them are shackles
That must be freed.
II
As they roared:
Be reborn, nature!
Nature of man!
As they bellowed:
Go rebel, desires!
Desires of the self!
“Doesn’t the world cease to exist
Without the observer who is ‘I’”?
“I close my eyes and all living
To me met their timely demise”.
REFRAIN:
The wise man said nothing,
And the child wondered:
You who perceive yourselves
Collectively no less than Zeus,
Why gift yourselves the fate
Of Sisyphus?
Don’t you know that even time
Must melt away?
And yet there you are worshiping,
Keeping in dust as your
Salvation and eternal faith.
The rolling stone you’ll never eternally own.
III
Like ants upon an anthill,
At the crossroad of humanity,
Under the gas lamps still,
Quenched the humble fire with vanity,
Enlightened by tungsten’s burst,
Inaugurated Man “King of the Universe”.
REFRAIN:
The philosopher hovered away.
The poet sighed but stayed.
You all perceive yourselves
Collectively no less than Zeus,
Yet gave yourselves the punishment
Of Sisyphus!
Don’t you know that even time
Must melt away?
And yet there you are worshiping,
Keeping in dust as your
Salvation and eternal faith.
The rolling stone you don’t eternally own.
IV
Time grew, aged and will soon melt away!
The world leap or falter illusions must fade.
As the rolling snow boulder melts away,
Did you lose or gain in the spring days?
-Those who climbed the snowy peaks
Are now losing losing all in the decay;
Those who sown in the eternal pasture
Are now reaping reaping joyfully away.-
REFRAIN:
The kings wail and weep,
The believers rejoice in the days.
With great irony the Zeus of today,
Confined themselves to Sisyphus’ fate.
They don’t believe that even time
Must melt away,
So they worship and praise,
Keep in dust as all the
Salvation and faith,
The rolling stone they want to eternally own.
V
What hope we used to keep!
Humbly cradled in the eternal dream!
Yet we were lured to think ourselves wise;
A cluster of ants fighting to be lords of flies.
Perceiving dust as above unseeable souls,
Willingly, our rotting stones up a steep hill roll.
Boasting our strength, status, height of place,
While mocking modesty’s unseeming grace.
Unaware of the coming crushing weight,
As the uphill stone tumbles back to base.
Ever evading us,
Ever escaping us,
Ever the ennui
Of “Man: Controller of the Universe”
Ever confined to mere dust and earth.
Self-imposed exile, had the wayward son forgot,
The once great purpose? Now all for naught?
“Meaningless! Meaningless!”
“We are headed to nowhere!”
When the stranger to strange tides,
Kills, hides, and pretends to be the guide.
REFRAIN:
Matter ever shifts,
The soul never ceases.
With great irony the Zeus of Man’s beginning,
Brought themselves to Sisyphus’ end.
They don’t believe that even time
Must melt away,
So they worship and praise,
Keep in dust as all the
Salvation and faith,
The rolling stone they think they eternally own.
VI
Sweeping beneath the fog
Of the overturning dusk,
Endless, ceaseless dust
Engulfed the roller till naught.
Only the dreamer in the fields
To the invisible eternal yields.
Bewildered by the shadows,
Darkness of humanity’s days,
Only those who never forgot the hidden light
Can find the gate above without fear or fright.
Everlasting in the decay.
Peaceful in the destruction.
Must not be bound,
Must not be bound,
Must not be bound,
By a boulder of dust,
By a mountain of mud.
The invisible never caused me alarm.
So they have mounts of gold without end.
So they keep the sands of time within hands.
So they must ever dread and fear as it slips away,
Dust to dust without a trace.
VII
But we, we melt away the mockery with faith,
And lead the way with bolts of love and grace,
Back home to Eternity’s Gate!
Just popping in to update some poems written after I last posted.
