Sheng-yu’s Lament (after Mei Yao-ch’en)
First heaven took my wife,
and now, my son.
These eyes will never dry
and my heart slowly turns to ash.
Rain seeps far into the earth
like a pearl dropped into the sea.
Swim deep and you’ll see the pearl,
dig in the earth and you’ll find water.
But when people return to the source,
we know they’re gone forever.
I touch my empty chest and ask, who
is that withered ghost in the mirror?
* * *
“Sheng-yu’s Lament” is included in my micro-chapbook, No Eye But The Moon’s, available via free download at Origami Poems Project.
The transliteration on Chinese-poems.com reads:
Heaven already take my wife
Again again take my son
Two eyes although not dry
(Disc) heart will want die
Rain fall enter earth in
Pearl sink enter sea deep
Enter sea can seek pearl
Dig earth can see water
Only person return source below
Through the ages know self (yes)
Touch breast now ask who
Emaciated mirror in ghost
O at the Edges 
Quite beautiful – looking like a good translation, too.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you, Derrick. Mei is one of my favorites.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your insight and depth found in the translation. Really a great poem!
dwight
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Dwight. Mei gets all the credit for the poem. It’s still strong and relevant, even after all these centuries.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, you are right!
LikeLiked by 1 person
So poignant.
LikeLiked by 2 people
He wrote this more than 900 years ago. When will we realize that people are basically the same, despite differing times and cultures.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So true.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Achingly so.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Powerful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Lawrence. Much appreciated.
LikeLike
I weep with the author as Ii feel their pain.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That pain traveled the centuries!
LikeLike
The sorrow in her words is deep and strong, these 2 lines are exquisite.
“Rain seeps far into the earth
like a pearl dropped into the sea.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Ivor. Mei’s life was full of tragedy.
LikeLike
Thank you for these. I enjoy them. Lending modern interpretations to an ancient voices shortens the perspective gap between the before and the now. Should we be encouraged or disheartened that after so many seeming evolutions, those travails which humanize us remain constant?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for reading these! I certainly am not disheartened to find the commonalities in these poems.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Disheartening wasn’t the right word. There is a feeling, though, upon understanding how little the basic substance of the human experience has changed since the beginning. Who knows? In another thousand years, someone might translate your poems into their then-modern vernacular, marveling at similar parallels. It’s a thought. An eerie one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh, that is an eerie thought. It is always interesting to discover that poems written hundreds of years ago still have the capacity to carry messages that seem fresh and topical.
LikeLiked by 1 person