Rhapsody in Black

Between dreams that join life and deathIn the places rivers and land have trystsWhen stars in postures of sleepfall silent in the blue night skyWhen melancholy lips of singers lose their softnessand wood doors no longer creak, grindstones no longer singWhen the last notes of lullabies have leapt and become firefliesthen all exhausted mothers enter the land of dreams

And in the distance, behind the cloudson the highest point of the cliffthe claws of sleeping eagles tread along the edges of dreamsDeath shuts its eyes tight in that distant placeAnd far off, on this landthousands of rivers in moonlight are in motion,their shadows moving toward nothingness

And far from here, in that forestbeside enticing pine-needle pillows,the cruel leopard forgets to devour the blue sheep beside it

In that quiet instant,oh, nameless river of Gulilada Canyon,please give me the beat of your bloodLet my mouth become your vocal chords

Male Wupao Mountain of Greater Liangshango embrace the female Ashajumu Mountain of Lesser LiangshanLet my body become your embryo once moreLet me grow in your abdomenLet the vanished memories swell all over again

In this silent moment,oh, black dream, please cover and envelop meLet me disappear in your love-touchLet me become air, sunlight,stone, mercury, privetLet me become iron, copper,mica, asbestos, phosphorOh, black dream, devour me, dissolve meLet me vanish in your merciful protectionLet me become grasslands, cattle, and sheepLet me become muntjac, skylarks, and lenokLet me become flint, saddle,mouth harp, mabu, and kaxiezhao’eOh, black dream, as I vanish,please pluck the zither of sorrow and deathLet Jidi Majia, this heavy and painful namesoak in the mystical colors of the sun even in the midnight hour

Let every sentence I utter and every song I singbe the truest echo of this land’s soulLet every line of my poetry, every punctuation markflow from the blue veins of this landOh, black dream, as I vanishlet me face a giant stone and speakBehind me are my suffering and majestic peopleI truly believe if the stone understands this loneliness and sorrowof a thousand years, it, too, will shed tearsOh, black dream, as I vanish,please raise up bright, warm stars for my peopleOh, black dream, let me finallyfollow you into that land of Death