船 Ship

我有过多次这样的奇遇，

I have had this kind of adventure many times,

从天堂到地狱只在瞬息之间；

From heaven to hell, there is only a moment;

每一朵可爱、温柔的浪花，

Every lovely, gentle wave,

都成了突然崛起、随即倾倒的高山。

They all became the mountains that suddenly rose and fell down.

每一滴海水都变脸变色，

Every drop of sea water changes color,

刚刚还是那样美丽、蔚蓝；

Just was so beautiful, blue;

旋涡纠缠着旋涡，

Abruptly, vortex entangled the vortex,

我被抛向高空又投进深渊……

I was thrown into the sky and down into the abyss...

当时我甚至想到过轻生，

I even thought of suicide at the time,

眼前一片苦海无边；

There is no limit to the sea in front of you;

放弃了希望就象放弃了舵柄，

Giving up hope is like giving up the tiller.

在暴力之下只能沉默和哀叹。

Under violence, one can only have silence and lament.

今天我才有资格嘲笑昨天的自己，

Today I am barely qualified to laugh at myself of yesterday.

为昨天落叶似的惶恐感到羞惭；

Being ashamed of my fear, the fear like a leaf falling from tree;

虚度了多少年华，

How many years have I lost?

船身多次被礁石撞穿……

The hull was repeatedly hit through by reefs...

千万次在大洋里撒网，

Thousands of times sailing in the ocean,

才捕获到一点点生活的经验，

Only captured a little bit of life experience,

才恍然大悟，

Out of a sudden, realized,

啊！道理原是如此浅显：

Ah! The philosophy is so shallow:

你要航行吗？

Do you want to sail?

必然会有千妖百怪出来阻拦；

There will inevitably be thousands of monsters to block out;

暴虐的欺凌是它们的游戏，

Tyranny bullying is their game,

制造灭亡是它们唯一的才干。

Manufacturing demise is their only talent.

命中注定我要常常和它们相逢，

I am destined to meet them often,

因为我的名字叫做船；

Because my name is called a ship;

面对强大于自身千万倍的对手，

In the face of opponents who are ten times more powerful than ourselves,

能援救自己的只有清醒和勇敢。

Only awakening and braveness can save oneself.

恐惧只能使自己盲目，

Fear can blind you,

盲目只能夸大魔鬼的狰狞嘴脸；

It will only exaggerate the devil's face;

也许我的样子比它们更可怕，

Maybe my appearance is more terrible than them,

当我以生命相拼，一往无前！

When I fight with my life, I am going only forward!

只要我还有一根完整的龙骨，

As long as I have a complete keel,

绝不驶进避风的港湾；

Never drive into a sheltered harbor;

把生命放在征途上，

Put my life on the journey,

让勇敢来决定道路的宽窄、长短。

Let braveness determine the width and length of the future road of mine.

我完完全全的自由了，

I am completely free,

船头成为埋葬它们的铁铲；

The bow becomes the shovel to bury them;

我在波浪中有节奏地跳跃，

I jumped rhythmically in the waves,

就象荡着一个巨大的秋千。

Treating it like a huge swing.

即使它们终于把我撕碎，

Even if they finally shred me,

变成一些残破的木片；

Turn me into some broken wood chips;

我不会沉沦，决不！

I won't sink, never!

我还会在浪尖上飞旋。

I will still spin on the wave.

后来者还会在残片上认出我，

Successor will recognize me from the fragments.

未来的诗人会喟然长叹：

The future poet will sigh:

“这里有一个幸福的灵魂，

它曾经是一艘前进着的航船……”

"There is a blessed soul here,

it used to be a forward sailing ship..."

---- Chinese poetry from Hua Bai, translated via Google Neural Machine Translation

One of my favorite modern Chinese poetries.