Amanda Gorman’s poem, “The Hill We Climb” brought me back to my childhood’s favorite poem of a Chinese poet,He Zhizhang from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) Coincidentally, a lot of poetry written in the Tang Dynasty was about the state of affairs at the time. This one particularly brought me nostalgia, especially when I went to visit my birthplace of Hong Kong, which I left when I was a little girl. Perhaps I could identify with the poet’s sentimentality; how he was greeted and thought of as a guest by the little children he encountered. I like to share this poem on this blog for you to read.
English translation is on the top. The first line of the Chinese is in the traditional characters, the second line is the simplified characters and the third line is the pinyin of the characters, which helps English speakers to pronounce the characters (words) so they could read it. Because Chinese is a tonal language and is composed of characters, not of alphabets. The Pinyin, which resembles the English alphabet will help English speakers to pronounce the words (characters) easier, but it has marks on top. The marks on top of the alphabets (pinyin) indicate the tone that you say it in. Remember Chinese is a tonal language. If you say the same sound in different tones, they will mean different things. It is very important to say it in the proper tone; otherwise, your meaning will be mistaken. A lot of jokes or puns have come out from people saying it in the wrong tone of the word. Hopefully, this will pique your interest to learn this interesting language.
I also post Amanda Gorman’s poem on the bottom for those of you who want to see the transcript of it. Perhaps you can understand why her poem reminds me of my favorite poem from my childhood.
Enjoy the poems!
Home Coming 回鄉偶書 By He Zhizhang 賀 知 章
Leaving home young, I now return old,
少小離家老大回
少小离家老大回
Shǎo* xiǎo lí jiā lǎodà huí
My accent has not changed, but my temple hair has grayed.
鄉音無改鬢毛衰
乡音无改鬓毛衰
Xiāngyīn wú gǎi bìn máo shuāi
Little village children greet me without recognizing me,
兒童相見不相識
儿童相见不相识
Értóng xiāng jiàn bù xiāngshí
And smiling, ask “where are you from, guest?”
笑問客從何處來
笑问客从何处来
Xiào wèn kè Cóng hé chù lái
*When two third-tone together, we change the first third-tone to the second-tone when speaking. But in writing out the tone, we still write it as a third tone. The third tone is very difficult for Westerners to say because it takes a long time for the tone to dip down and then go back up again. For more about tones, please ask your Chinese teacher. And for more on translation and interpretation of Chinese Ancient poems, you can check out this website.
Amanda Gorman’s Poem on 2021’s Inauguration Day
Amanda’s poem was well-positioned between Lady Gaga’s National Anthem and Jennifer Lopez’s “This Land is Your Land”, here’s the poem that has been talked about so much.
The Hill We Climb By Amanda Gorman
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
The loss we carry,
a sea we must wade
We’ve braved the belly of the beast
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn’t always just-ice
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it
Somehow we do it
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished
We the successors of a country and a time
Where a skinny Black girl
descended from slaves and raised by a single mother
can dream of becoming president
only to find herself reciting for one
And yes we are far from polished
far from pristine
but that doesn’t mean we are
striving to form a union that is perfect
We are striving to forge a union with purpose
To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and
conditions of man
And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us
but what stands before us
We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,
we must first put our differences aside
We lay down our arms
so we can reach out our arms
to one another
We seek harm to none and harmony for all
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew
That even as we hurt, we hoped
That even as we tired, we tried
That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious
Not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division
Scripture tells us to envision
that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree
And no one shall make them afraid
If we’re to live up to our own time
Then victory won’t lie in the blade
But in all the bridges we’ve made
That is the promised glade
The hill we climb
If only we dare
It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit,
it’s the past we step into
and how we repair it
We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation
rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly succeeded
But while democracy can be periodically delayed
it can never be permanently defeated
In this truth
in this faith we trust
For while we have our eyes on the future
history has its eyes on us
This is the era of just redemption
We feared at its inception
We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter
To offer hope and laughter to ourselves
So while once we asked,
how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?
Now we assert
How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be
A country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce and free
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation
Our blunders become their burdens
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright
So let us leave behind a country
better than the one we were left with
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one
We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,
we will rise from the windswept northeast
where our forefathers first realized revolution
We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,
we will rise from the sunbaked south
We will rebuild, reconcile and recover
and every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid
The new dawn blooms as we free it
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it
If only we’re brave enough to be it
Here’s the Youtube video clip if you want to watch her read the poem again.
Perhaps it’s the hopes that Amanda’s poem embraces and it restores America’s place in the world which is the Beacon of Hope that people from many countries could only dream of. America, America, the home of the second chances and the land of the free.