From Hungry China

from HUNGRY CHINA
(1)
I see Hunger watching at every house door,
Or else, his contented brother, Crime.
Nowhere could we escape from the staring
Of his eyes, the eyes of our valuable education.

Gradually he is coming between us, my dear,
For good nature can never hold his steps.
Our every weakness is being tried, I am giad-
Till Fear transforms us into stones.

Far off, he looks like our unflinching Ideal,
And now he comes with a punitive long face,
To put forth a feature daily in the newspapers
Too searching, too painful, to keep our attention for long.

And presently, my dear, sinking the ground under us,
He is shaking our thin and wearied bodies,
As if pressing for a spark of fury or whirlwind
To break out floating helplessness.

(2)

Cruelty is born out of our heart,
He calls down light, and he creates the world.
He is your wealth, he is my safety,
He is the female charm, and a good breeding.

While young he hid himself in our love,
And by our repeated weepings is he sought out.
Henceforth he becomes popular and current like a coin,
He has written history, and he is the great man today.

All our careers are merely his career,
And there in the heart of Success lies his shrine.
The lower he is kicked, the higher he rises:
He is charity, glory, high speeches, and the smiling face.

Althought nobody would reveal his name,
All our light is come out of his light;
And when we breathe daily in the smell of his dust,
Ah, the heart's shivers– what life! what death!

饥饿的中国

    (1)

我看见饥饿在每一家门口，
或者他得意的兄弟，罪恶；
没有一处我们能够逃脱，他的
直瞪的眼睛；我们做人的教育，

渐渐他来到你我之间，爱，
善良从无法把他拒绝，
每一弱点都开始受考验，我也高兴，
直到恐惧把我们变成石头，

远远的，他原是我们不屈服的理想，
他来了却带着惩罚的面孔，
每天在报上讲一篇故事，
太深刻，太惊人，终于使我们漠不关心，

直到今天，爱，隔绝了一切，
他在摇撼我们疲弱的身体，
像是等待着有突然的火花突然的旋风
从我们的漂泊和孤独向外冲去。

(2)
残酷从我们的心里走来，
它要有光，它创造了这个世界。
它是你的钱财，它是我的安全，
它是女人的美貌，文雅的教养。

从小它就藏在我们的爱情中，
我们屡次的哭泣才把它确定。
从此它像金币一样流通，
它写过历史，它是今日的伟人。

我们的事业全不过是它的事业，
在成功的中心已建立它的庙堂，
被踏得最低，它升起最高，
它是慈善，荣耀，动人的演说，和蔼的面孔。

虽然没有谁声张过它的名字，
我们一切的光亮都来自它的光亮；
当我们每天呼吸在它的微尘之中，
呵，那灵魂的颤抖——是死也是生！