From CHINA: THE CLASSICAL TRADITION

Li Qingzhao
To the tune of Rinsing Silk Stream
Let not the deep cup be filled
with rich, amber-colored wine;
My mind was eased of sorrow
even before I become intoxicated.
Distant bells have already echoed
in the evening breeze.
My dream is broken
as the scent of incense vanishes.
I awake to find myself blankly facing
the read flickering glow
of the candle

K. Senburg
Guaranteed Antique
Life is just a bowl of Cherries
Death is a kiss and ashtray
Suppose Judas Iscariot Had written to Mary Magdalene:
‘I love you, I love you. Will you marry me?’
Would Mary have answered:
‘You? ... You? ... Since when? ...’
Life is just a bowl of Cherries
Death is a kiss and ashtray
The poem ‘To the tune of Rinsing Silk Stream’ by Li Qingzhao is a classical example of Chinese version. As usual, prevail intimate feelings hidden with the help of different stylistic means and devices. While reading the poem I just felt some feeling, that the author just stands aside and follows everything. An inner calmness is felt, a remarkable point of wise. The author expresses his thoughts about death and life. The same idea is reflected in another poem by K. Senburg
‘Guaranteed Antique’. Though these two people lived in different times and continents, there are some common features are vividly seen. They both compare life with something in a shape of container. It is important what it is full of. Let it be full of cherries, but not ‘with rich, amber-colored wine’. Li Qingzhao reminds us, the happiness of life is not only in wine. We should accept everything rationally and with realism. The best thing to live happily is to remember the existence of death. ‘Distant bells have already echoed in the evening breeze’, I do not know why, but at once I remember the words from one prominent Hemingway’s novel. ‘Do not ask for who the bell tolls. It tolls for you’. According to the Chinese philosophy you should bring this idea into your soul and piece and calmness will be your world. At the same time life is a bitter thing. ‘My mind was eased of sorrow even before I become intoxicated’. Not all cherries are sweet and taste, sometimes they are not fresh or even have worms. We are always to taste all the sides of life, because only in comparison we will get to know the truth. Li Qingzhao shows us an example of his own brevity and courage. ‘I awake to find myself blankly facing the read flickering glow of the candle’. Both verses are full with symbols, which are not so easy to read. In order to make a proper analysis a person should know the background of historical setting and psychological portrait of the author. It is, of course, desirable to know the authors mood when he was composing this or that verse. In addition, it is interesting to know how long it took to the author to write a poem. A day? A week? Years of experience and grief? A poem is some kind of a person’s reflection. We can sometimes easily recognize what person in life was this or that author. No doubt, these two people had understood life clearly, the only thing we have is to believ their knowledge and to accept more information which is coded in their works.
http://www.chinapage.com/poet-e/liqingzhao/ci04.html