halfcactus

Happy Mid-Autumn!

Spent a fair amount of the weekend with family because relatives had flown in for a wedding the following day (my cousin's cousin). Also read 繁星, Bing Xin's collected poetry fragments, because Zhang Xincheng was doing a reading for the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala... ended up subbing it myself and reading the English translation (book link: A Maze of Stars and Spring Water), a worthwhile exercise since the original text was still pretty fresh in my head and I could follow along the translation choices. Posting the original text + translations here for my reference!

My translation:

Watch on YouTube

Idk if this makes sense, but I consider myself more of a subber than a translator, so generally I don't think my "translations" hold up in text form haha. I love how the video format allows me to disregard form and line breaks, because as much as I enjoy reading freeform poetry I have nooooo understanding of the craft.

I don't really have any notes, other than me giving up on finding synonyms for "deep" so I subbed it with words for distance, and that the line 灿烂光中的休息处 is very much open to interpretation, so I went with the image that was in my head when I was reading it.

1
繁星闪烁着——
Clusters of stars, glittering
深蓝的天空
In the deep blue sky
何曾听得见他们对语
Has anyone heard their whispers?
沉默中
Faraway, in the depths of silence—
微光里
In their distant light—
它们深深的互相颂赞了
Their profound exaltations of each other?

5
黑暗
Darkness—
怎样幽深的描画呢
How to describe it, so far away?
心灵的深深处
A place deep in the soul
宇宙的深深处
A place deep in the universe
灿烂光中的休息处
A place between the gleaming lights
where their radiance comes to rest

71
这些事——
Some things
是永不漫灭的回忆
can never be smudged from memory:
月明的园中
The moonlit garden
藤萝的叶下
The shade of the wisteria leaves
母亲的膝上
The lap of my mother

131
大海呵！
Oh ocean—
哪一颗星没有光
Is there a star that has no light?
哪一朵花没有香
Is there a flower that has no fragrance?
哪一次我的思潮里
Was there a single ripple in my thoughts
没有你波涛的清响
That didn't carry the resonance of your waves?

156
母亲呵！
Mother—
天上的风雨来了
When the tempest is in the sky
鸟儿躲到他的巢里
The birds shelter in their nests
心中的风雨来了
When the tempest is in my heart
我只躲到你的怀里
I can only shelter in your arms

Published translation (it's unclear who translated it):
Source: A Maze of Stars and Spring Water

繁星闪烁着——
A maze of stars glistens
深蓝的天空
in the deep azure vault of sky.
何曾听得见他们对语
When before have I overheard their whispers?
沉默中
In the profound silence,
微光里
in their own faint light,
它们深深的互相颂赞了
this deep acknowledgement of one another.

黑暗
How to describe
怎样幽深的描画呢
the darkness?
心灵的深深处
The depths of heart and mind,
宇宙的深深处
The depths of time and space,
灿烂光中的休息处
where the light's glory finds its rest.

这些事——
These few things—
是永不漫灭的回忆
Undying memories:
月明的园中
in the moonlit garden,
藤萝的叶下
under the vine leaves,
母亲的膝上
on my mother's lap.

大海呵！
Ocean—
哪一颗星没有光
What star has no light?
哪一朵花没有香
What flower has no scent?
哪一次我的思潮里
When, in the tide of my thought,
没有你波涛的清响
shall I no longer hear the murmur of your waves?

母亲呵！
Mother—
天上的风雨来了
When the winds and rains of heaven fall,
鸟儿躲到他的巢里
the birds shelter in their nests.
心中的风雨来了
When the winds and rains of the heart arise,
我只躲到你的怀里
there is only your breast to give me shelter.

Art recs (mostly Mid-Autumn related)