A Letter from the Tang Dynasty
by Luo Guoxiong
Tonight, a gravel-mine river rumbles a distance away,
splashing and giving the shore a touch of frost.
A whale-rider soars in and out of the stratosphere
to deliver a letter to me—from a swordsman, who
wouldn’t have cared if a bandit ran off with his homesickness.
A drunk genius, on a unceasing journey,
writes by a boat lantern about the frontier. Poet Li Bai is
far away from home, his countenance unearthly and passion untamed.
Awakened by an unexpected long sigh, I rise up to see
who’s knocking on the door, ah, only the moonlight. Looking out,
I see cool Mount Emei and sparkling Minjiang River.
A slim horse, tottering on the ancient road, the wind from the west,
rhymes or no rhymes, let us go home—
Millennial snow goes back to be only water drops.
The moon over Mount Emei, me in the mirror, thoughts of my forebearer,
a gray-haired poet, childlike,
drunk with snow, reaching for the moon to calm the soul——
A teardrop hangs on the electric wire, or is it dew?
I am drunk. But as long as hopes are not all shattered,
there will be dreams, serene mountains and rivers, starry sky,
roaring waves, on the brink of drowning. The night is deep,
the dreams on paper bring out a new dream: moon in the sky,
let the night be forever young,
so that both the letter sender and the recipient
can safe keep their hopes in the deep of the heart.
Translated by Duck Yard Lyricists
Duck Yard Lyricists is a group of devoted poetry lovers: Meifu Wang, Peter Micic, Michael Soper & Johan Ramaekers.
羅國雄，上世紀70年代初生於四川眉山，現居四川樂山，四川詩歌民刊《詩行》主編。作品散見《人民日報》《人民文學》《詩刊》《解放軍文藝》《上海文學》《青年文學》《星星》《草堂》《中國詩歌》《四川文學》《詩選刊》《詩歌月刊》《延河》《詩潮》《綠風》《滇池》《飛天》《青春》《青年作家》《散文詩》《散文詩世界》等報刊，入選多種詩選本和“中國.512地震詩歌牆”，著有詩集《幸福燕》《遍地鄉愁》，主編《樂山百年新詩選》，“老樂山”系列叢書等。
本詩由 PATHSHARERS BOOKS（美國同道出版社）
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