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“Crossing Half of China to Be With You” by Yu Xiuhua (translation)

Hong Kong Int’l Airport (photo my own)

The following is my translation of “Crossing Half of China to Be With You” by Yu Xiuhua (余秀华). Yu Xiuhua (b. 1976) is a Chinese poet based in Hengdian, a small village in the Hubei province. Her ideas and experiences regarding love, disillusionment, rural isolation, societal injustice, and disability are documented in her extensive works of raw and poignant poetry, as well as the documentary Still Tomorrow (2016).

“Crossing Half of China to Be With You,” which went viral on WeChat in 2014, has already been translated by many. My slightly euphemistic rendition, which I offer below, is but one personal interpretation and offering. It is not officially authorized by the poet.

穿过大半个中国去睡你


其实,睡你和被你睡是差不多的,无非是

两具肉体碰撞的力,无非是这力催开的花朵


无非是这花朵虚拟出的春天让我们误以为生命被重新打开

大半个中国,什么都在发生:火山在喷,河流在枯


一些不被关心的政治犯和流民

一路在枪口的麋鹿和丹顶鹤


我是穿过枪林弹雨去睡你


我是把无数的黑夜摁进一个黎明去睡你


我是无数个我奔跑成一个我去睡你

当然我也会被一些蝴蝶带入歧

把一些赞美当成春天


把一个和横店类似的村庄当成故乡

而它们

都是我去睡你必不可少的理由

Crossing Half of China to Be With You

Actually, giving it or taking, it’s about the same, just

the force of two bodies colliding, just the force of a flower blooming

just this flower’s virtual spring that we again confuse for life


Across China, everything is happening: volcanos erupt, rivers run dry

political prisoners and refugees are ignored

deer and cranes are held at gunpoint along the way

I’m crossing a sea of bullets to be with you

I’m compressing countless nights into one dawn to be with you

I’m running countless I’s into one me to be with you

Of course I’ll let a few butterflies lead me astray

Let some admiration turn into spring

Mistake a soundstage for home

Yet these

are all the reasons why I absolutely must be with you. 

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Bei Dao: Two Poems (translation)

Nie Ou (Chinese, b. 1948), Study Under Moonlight, 1989. Handscroll, ink and color on paper, 9 1/16 x 50 3/8 in.

黑盒

是谁在等待
一次预约的日出

我关上门
诗的内部一片昏暗

在桌子中央
胡椒皇帝愤怒

一支乐曲记住我
并卸下了它的负担

钟表零件散落
在皇室的地平线上

事件与事件相连]
穿过隧道

Black Box

Who is waiting
A sunrise appointment

I close the door
A dusk inside a poem

In the middle of the table
The pepper emperor rages

I learn a piece of music
And lay down its burden

Clock parts scatter
On the emperor’s horizon

Events connecting
Passing through a tunnel

此刻

那伟大的进军
那一个精巧的齿轮
制止
从梦中领取火药的人
也领取伤口上的盐
和诸神的声音
余下的仅是永别
永别的雪
在夜空闪烁

This Moment

That great march
That elaborate machine
Halt
Those who receive gunpowder from their dreams
also get salt in their wounds
and the voice of the gods
The rest is just farewells
Snowy farewells
Bright in the night sky

Both poems by Bei Dao (b. 1949) translations by me (Janine!)