A Lamentation

By X. Z. Shao

 

As I walk in this scarred land, I also walk in your heart.

The Queen of all wonders has become a queen of bereavement.

With my hair loosen, face smeared and a black robe from my head to toe,

I moan for you, I kneel down scraping the earth until my nails break for you,

I cry as a woman in the ruin of Jerusalem did for you,

and I enter into a trance to plead for you.

 

Time and again, I offered you bouquets of flowers,

but you didn’t want to take them, I put in place all my musicians

and play a music that may touch the heart of Hades,

but you didn’t want to hear it, I received the Celestial Lake water

with my long hair and direct it onto the Earth,

but you made it unfit to drink, and I inspired sages and minstrels

to uplift, chastise, amend, entertain and enlighten you,

but you acted like a suitor in Odysseus’ house,

and I built havens that housed the guardian spirits of the earth,

but you dismantled them like an idiot on the throne of a king.

 

It is you, you and still you, don’t blame any others

for having more share of the destructions than you.

Look at what is happening under your feet,

taste what you eat and smell the air your nose inhales,

jump and swim in the water that are supposed to bring your joy,

and hear the voiceless screams of the killings that have been done,

hundreds of millions of, hidden or in front of you.

 

What catastrophic scenes of carnage,

they could not have taken place without you;

they are the real pictures of your heart;

if your heart is not a ruin and refuses all my decorations,

then how can there be all those manifestations.

 

Discern the most heinous weakness inside you.

If the most foul beast within you is sitting on a splendid sedan chair,

do you play a lesser evil by carrying it on your shoulder,

or have the courage to refuse your servitude,

or have the guts to throw it into the chasm if it has already burdened you?

                  2015/11/19

   

 

 

哀歌（哀环境、人心）

By X. Z. Shao  Translated into Chinese by 姜荣景

 

我走在这满目苍夷的大地，也走在你心上。

美妙绝伦女王已变成了悲丧女王。

披着散发、满脸涂污，全身黑衣，

我为你哀恸，我跪在地上用手抓爬泥土直到指甲破裂，

犹如耶路撒冷废墟上哭泣的女人，我为你哭泣，

我进入狂迷恍惚状态为你乞求。

 

多少次我给你千百束鲜花，而你却无意接纳；

我命令全体乐师演奏那冥王都为之动容的乐曲，

而你却无心欣赏；我用长发把天池水引入大地，

而你却把它糟蹋得无法饮用；

我启示圣人和游吟诗人教导、斥责，娱乐和启蒙你，

而你却像奥德修斯府上的求婚者一般傲慢；

我建起了许多大地守护神灵的居所，

而你却像坐上王位的白痴把它们逐一捣毁。

 

全怪你自己吧，别怪他人所犯的罪孽比你深重。

举目四望，你脚下可有完整的土地？

尝尝你嘴里吃的东西，闻闻你鼻子呼吸的空气，

那本该为你带来欢乐的溪流，你还敢跃入其中畅游吗？

听听已被杀戮者无声的叫喊吧，

数以亿记，暗地里或在你面前的杀戮。

 

多么灾难深重屠杀的场景，

没有你的参与，这些本不会发生，

这是你内心真实的图景；

若非你心灵荒芜，并拒绝我的装点，

怎么会有这些外在表现。

 

辨别你内心深处最可恶的略根性吧！

倘若你内在最污秽野兽正坐在奢华的轿子上，

你是否充当邪恶的帮凶把它抬在肩上，

还是有勇气拒绝给它提供劳役，

或是有胆识把它抛入深渊，要是它已经成为你的重负？

                2015/11/20