Sunday, March 29, 2015

Li Po's Great Roc Poem

Li Po's Great Roc Poem[1]
Translated by Laijon Liu 20150329

Great roc one day rises with the wind,
He twisters upward ninety thousand miles[2].
If the wind's calm and he comes down,
Still he can churn the mighty sea waves.
People see me and my oddball speech,
They see my bragging and they all sneer.
Even Confucius respected his pupils,
Gentlemen should not ignore young adults[3].

Note:
[1] Poem original title: To Li Yong, he was a Tang calligraphy artist, held a local official job, a friend of Li Po, Tu Fu and Gao Shi.
[2] miles literal translation: li, ancient measurement
[3] young adults literal translation: young of age

Chinese Original:
上 李 邕
  李 白
  大鵬一日同風起,
  扶搖直上九萬裏。
  假令風歇時下來,
  猶能簸卻滄溟水。
  時人見我恒殊調,
  見余大言皆冷笑。
  宣父猶能畏後生,
  丈夫未可輕年少。




Thursday, March 26, 2015

詠李廣

詠李廣
Laijon Liu

拔劍吟悲歌,
醉射白羽沒。
万軍奪騎飛,
千古一將雄!

Rereading Sima Qian's Historic Record reminds my old Chinese poem done years ago, about Han Dynasty's flying general Li Guang, a poetic tragic figure, his career misfortune done a better service on pages and stages than to his lifetime desire.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Dark Memories

Dark Memories
Laijon Liu 20150324

Dark memories stream out of bat caves
patch the patterns of nights
those cut and sawed fragments, countless

like crawling bangle stripes or leopard spots
quietly tailing a lost zebra
gradually, all vanish into white desert




Monday, March 9, 2015

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls
Laijon Liu 20150309

gushing, roaring, and pouring
forward- is to freefall, to farewell and to self-undo
forward- is to sink the past, and face future uncertainty
forward- is also to rise, to renew, and to reborn

drawn and dive into that immense gravity
smash and splash that overpowering energy
new settlers come forth at your foot
offer up their wish, bonding, and own-selves