Blossom

A youthful smile

A hidden love

An uncommenced life

A heart ready to burn

Zou Difan

Translation mine

The Colours

My life was a worthless white sheet

The green has made me rise up high,

The red – made me catch fire.

The yellow has taught me equality and justice

The blue taught me purity,

The pink gave me hope,

The grey brought me melancholy.

And to finish with this watercolour

The black has made me face death.

From that moment on,

I love life like no one else,

Because I love its lively colours.

Wen  Yiduo

Translation mine

Sadness

I will say it’s the melancholy of silent autumn,

Or the nostalgia of far-away seas,

I will not be able to utter your name

If they wish to know my sadness.

Should they want to stir my sorrow,

I will not say your name,

I’ll tell them I regret the remore seas,

Or the melancholy of silent autumn.

Dai  Wangshu

Translation  mine

To Myself

The moon has flooded the shades of the night,

The plane-tree leaves have sad faces,

I sit in wait and listen:

The days of the fall are coming.

The tree has grown so thin,

Do you think I have

Pulled out its leaves?

Li  Jinfa

Translation mine

Când aveam unu-şi-douăzeci de ani

Când aveam unu-şi-douăzeci de ani

Am auzit un om bun zicând:

”Dă coroane, şi lire, şi guinee,

Dar nu-ţi da inima altuia;

Dă perle şi rubine,

Dar lasă-ţi liberă imaginaţia”,

Dar aveam unu-şi-douăzeci de ani,

Niciun folos să vorbeşti cu mine.

Când aveam unu-şi-douăzeci de ani

L-am auzit spunând iar:

”Inima din adâncurile ei

Să n-o dăruieşti niciodată în zadar,

Fiindcă urmează suspine-nşiruite

Şi suferinţe nesfârşite.”

Şi-acum am doi-şi-douăzeci de ani

Şi, vai, e-adevărat, e-adevărat.

A. E. Housman, “When I Was One-and-Twenty”

Translation mine