Poems of Mao
36. On History (Spring 1964)
On History
[a tsu, to the melody Good Wishes to the Bridegroom, Ho Hsin-lang]
[translated by Nancy Lin]
With a hasty salute
Man parted with the ape.
Sundry polished stones
He made in his infancy.
Bronze and iron were then
Turned and tossed in flaming furnaces.
How long since, you ask?
A few thousand shifts, I figure,
Of summer and winter, or thereabouts.
Occasions for smiles and laughter
Were rare in this world of men.
Battles flared and raged –
Bows bent at one another,
Terrains washed in blood.
This chronicle reviewed,
Snow whirls overhead,
Leaving behind but a dim memory
Of bits of scattered traces of a sterile past.
The holy deeds paraded
Of the Five Emperors and Three Sovereigns
Were only hoaxes played upon
The endless troops of passers-by.
Any real heroes and saints?
Yes, the glory that was Chih the Outlaw
And Chuang the Free-booter,
Followed by the mighty rise of King Chen
Wielding his golden axe!
The song is not all sung
When day breaks in the east.
Notes [by Nancy Lin]
Man’s career is here depicted in a few graphic strokes, beginning with his differentiation from the ape down through the stone, bronze and iron ages – with, however, a sharp comment on the barrenness and falsity of the past and a spirited re-assessment of the revolts of the slaves and peasants, culminating in the advent of the proletarian revolution symbolized by the coming of the dawn.
Five Emperors and Three Sovereigns: legendary kings in ancient China, used here to represent ruling classes in general.
Chih the Outlaw and Chuang the Free-booter: Tao Chih and Chuang Chueh, leaders of slave revolts in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. respectively.
King Chen: Chen She, the first peasant leader to raise the standard of revolt against the tyrannous Chin rule in 209 B.C.
[next - 37. Chingkang Mountain Re-ascended]