Elegy for Elder Hua: Song of Jiaocheng

2008/8/21 21:30:39

This ID once declared that aside from Mao, Zhou, and Lin, there was no interest in composing poems for anyone else. But this Elder Hua is rather special. I had originally wanted him to write a preface or calligraph the title for this ID's poetry collection, but then serious illness struck, and the opportunity was lost forever — fate, most likely. After deliberating for over a day, a poem must still be written. A regulated verse would be excessive — after all, he is far from the caliber of Mao, Zhou, or Lin. A quatrain is more fitting.

Song of Jiaocheng

Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán

A song without reason, its lyrics changed twice

Thirty years, and the coffin lid is still not nailed

Departing the red dust today — truly like a play

At last one sees Jiaocheng's mountains and waters, wondrous and strange