Translation from Chinese of Poems 1–9 from 'Wandering Spirit and Metaphysical Thoughts' by Gao Xingjian

Abstract

The 2000 Nobel Laureate for Literature, Gao Xingjian, suffered cardiac arrest while directing rehearsals for his mega-scale opera Snow in August that was due to premiere in late 2002 at the National Opera House, Taipei. He recovered, and the opera premiered as scheduled with the help of a co-director before he returned to Paris to direct the Comédie Français premiere of his Quatre quatuors pour un week-end. He underwent surgery in February and March of 2003, but was soon again back at work. The year 2003 had been designated “Gao Xingjian Year” by the City of Marseille, and he would direct his new play Le Quêteur de la Mort at Théâtre du Gymnase, and then his Snow in August at Opéra de Marseille. It was during rehearsals for the former that he collapsed again, and was hospitalized: the play was co-directed by Romain Bonnin, 23–26 September 2003. Large exhibitions of Gao’s artworks had been held earlier that year, but the performance of Snow in August was postponed. During his recuperation for most of 2004, he sometimes wrote poems, some of which he later polished or rewrote for his collection Wandering Spirit and Metaphysical Thoughts (2012).

These translations from the Chinese into English of the first 9 poems in Wandering Spirit and Metaphysical Thoughts (2012) are by acclaimed translator Mabel Lee.

(1)

Life for you

Is again so fresh

You’re still in the human world

Indulging yourself

And galloping around one more time

What good luck!

Death was to have despatched you

But God said wait

Let him have another turn

The reprobate still has things to say

And there’s no harm letting him finish

That joker has too many ideas

And should’ve dealt with them long ago

Says

Death who has equal rank with darkness

God who is indeed the epitome of kindness

Has given him a horse

Treats him as his favourite son

And forgives him again

(2)

Right now, you’re close to the hoary sky

Far from humankind

And the clarity you’ve just won

Ah, what great freedom!

You look down at the human world

The shambolic multitudes

Fighting and squabbling

A totality of chaos

Everyone runs around

Oblivious

To the big invisible hand

That sometimes toys with them in the dark

(3)

A well

Endlessly deep

God

Is sitting inside

Eyes shut to conserve energy

Invisible to you and me

(4)

Life is a miracle

You came to the world

By chance

And in fact

Are inferior to a blade of grass

Whether you’ll make it through winter

Heaven only knows

But the grass next spring

Will be swaying in the wind

You’re insignificant

Inferior to dust

When the allocated time comes

You’ll be deleted with a brush stroke

Whereas the dust

Will go and return

And can never be wiped away

Life comes by chance

And goes by chance

The dispersal of the spirit

Is faster than dust

Dust and life

Are essentially inseparable

Distilled and rarefied

Limitless times

You are

An ineffable miracle

(5)

A skull

Two black holes

A fragment of the chin

No longer speaks

A disintegrating skeleton

Like withered branches of a tree

(6)

By taking a step back

One can scrutinize

The head

Even take it down

And have fun playing with it

If this gets boring

Nothing wrong with putting it back

(7)

The truth can’t be spoken

Once spoken it is no longer truth

It’s enough just to know

And whatever is unknown

Should be left to happen

For example

People invariably die

And hearing this people will shrug

Or smile

But when a smile isn’t possible

It will have been verified

(8)

You know

How hard it was crawling out of the quagmire

So why clean the sludge you leave behind

Just let it return to the quagmire

The noise behind you turns raucous

And if life hasn’t ended

Even taking one step at a time

Is to walk one’s own road

(9)

You may as well recreate

A weightless nature

A Garden of Eden in your heart

Where you can wander leisurely

To your heart’s delight

DECLARATION OF CONFLICTING INTEREST The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. FUNDING The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.