Classics of Dai Wangshu

Author: Dai Wangshu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: In the ever-changing flow of time and the irreversible process of life, classics are the words, sounds, and expressions that have conquered time. Those sincere statements, those fearless cries, and those reflections on the human spirit awaken our past hopes, inspire our current courage, and free us from emptiness and vanity, no longer doubting the future. The images of these wise figures and their timeless words purify our souls, shake our spirits, and teach us what can be missed but never erased, and what is fleeting yet precious. "The Rain Alley" is Dai Wangshu's early masterpiece and representative work. After its publication, it had a significant impact, earning the poet the title of "Rain Alley Poet." The poem depicts a somber scene of a Jiangnan alley during the rainy season, creating a richly symbolic lyrical atmosphere. Here, the poet metaphorically represents the dark and oppressive social reality of the time as a long, narrow, and desolate "rain alley," devoid of sunlight, vitality, or life. The lyrical protagonist "I" wanders alone in such an alley, a vacillating figure. Yet, even in solitude, "I" clings to the hope and pursuit of a beautiful ideal. The "girl with the fragrance of lilac" in the poem symbolizes this ideal. However, this ideal is both elusive and unattainable. The author's essays and novels also carry a strong poetic flavor, allowing readers to feel as if bathed in spring and savor the meaning of life amidst faint sorrow.
Holding an oil-paper umbrella, I wander alone in the long, long, desolate rain alley,
I hope to meet a girl like a lilac,
With sorrow in her eyes.
She has the hue of a lilac,
The fragrance of a lilac,
The sorrow of a lilac,
In the rain, she laments, laments, and wanders.
She wanders in the desolate rain alley,
Holding an oil-paper umbrella, like me, like me,
Walking silently, indifferent, desolate, and melancholic.
She approaches, approaches, then casts a sigh-like gaze,
She drifts by, like a dream, like a dream,
Full of sorrow and confusion.
Like a branch of lilac drifting in a dream,
She drifts past me;
She moves quietly, farther, farther,
To the dilapidated fence,
And walks the rain alley to its end.
In the rain's lament,
Her hue fades, her fragrance disperses,
Even her sigh-like gaze,
Her lilac-like sorrow,
Fades away.
Holding an oil-paper umbrella, I wander alone in the long, long, desolate rain alley,
I hope to drift by a girl like a lilac,
With sorrow in her eyes.
"Song of Fallen Leaves"
Man: Look, the raindrops-slicked fallen leaf,
Swaying, rests on the branch.
(Its heart, wet with tears, gently clings to your heart.)
It hesitates, afraid the breeze will carry it
To the ethereal sky.
Woman: Look, the bird that once clung to the leaves,
Now must drift away without a trace.
(My heart is like the fallen leaf,
You, heartless one, you’re leaving for distant lands.)
It pitifully waits for the breeze,
To follow the wind in pursuit of love’s trail?
Man: Then you are the leaf, I am the breeze.
I have loved you on the branch,
And in the streets.
Woman: Come, stir up your gentle breeze,
I will return to you the life of my fallen leaf.
"Day of Remembrance"
Today is the day for the souls,
I remember my friend who passed six years ago.
Perhaps he has grown older now,
Longing for his beloved wife,
His weeping daughter,
His cut-short youth.
He must have grown thinner,
Leading a wandering life,
In the underworld,
But his loyal gaze remains forever.
And I still hear his familiar, energetic voice,
"Are you happy, Old Dai?"
(“Happy? Hmm, I no longer have that now.”)
He won’t forget me—I know that well,
For he still comes to see me,
Twice a month, in my dreams.
He talks endlessly, though he has now joined eternal silence,
And his melancholic smile fills me with sorrow.
I no longer know where his wife and daughter are,
I dare not think of them,
I even dare not ask him in my dreams.
Of course, they won’t be living happily,
Like me, like us all.
Be a little happier today,
For it is the day for the souls,
I have prepared a feast for you,
Rich enough for me.
You can find fresh fruits from my garden,
And the brandy you love.
Our friendship remains eternally gentle,
And I will talk with you about the joys and sorrows of the underworld.