第七章
RHAPSODY IN BLACK
Among dreams where life and death are joined
When somnolent stars beam in silence
In night's deep-blue sky
When the singer's lip is set in a pensive line
The wooden door does not creak, the millstone does not hum
The lullaby's last notes leap up as fireflies
And all weary mothers have entered dreamland
Far away on the yonder side of clouds
Atop the highest crag
Eagle’s claws tread on a dream's edge
And here, in THIS faraway land
Where the eyes of death are sealed
Hundreds of rivers race beneath moonlight
Their forms head off towards nothingness
And far away in the forest
Next to tempting pine-needle pillows
The panther leaves off preying on the mountain goat
In this moment of stillness
O Gunyilada river in your deep chasm
Give me the rhythm of your lifeblood
Let my mouth's roof resound with your voice
Oh hurry, male mountain Vupuo of the Great Liangshan range
Embrace the female mountain Agajjumu of Lesser Liangshan
Let my body be your embryo once again
Let me gestate in your abdomen
Let vanished memory swell again
Ah black dream, at this silent moment
May you soon cover me, envelop me
Let me disappear under your lover-like touch
Let me turn into air, into sunlight
Into boulders and quicksilver and privet flowers
Let me turn into iron, into bronze
Into pearly shells, into asbestos, into phosphor
Ah black dream, may you soon engulf and dissolve me
Let me vanish under your benign protection
To become a grassland, a lark, a fine-scaled fish
To become a tiny sickle for striking sparks
To become a saddle, to become a jews harp