A Chinese Poem To Share Alongside Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb”
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? …
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