(1900–1999)
Born in Fujian, Bing Xin, real name Xie Wanying, was brought up in Shandong, where her father was the head of a naval college. In 1918 she attended the Peking Union College for Women (later amalgamated with Yenching University) and became active in student protest and literary reform. Influenced by Rabindranath Tagore’s Stray Birds, she published A Maze of Stars (1921) and Spring Water (1922), both collections of “mini poems,” which are influenced by classical Chinese jueju and Japanese haiku, and reminiscent of Greek epigrams. She studied at Wellesley College from 1923 to 1926 and graduated with a master’s degree in English literature. In her ensuing long career spanning the entire twentieth century, she remained an influential poet, novelist, essayist, translator, and writer of children’s literature.
19
My heart—
A lonely vessel
cuts through the ebb and swell of time.
34
That which creates the new shoreline
is not the rolling wave
but the tiny grains of sand beneath it.
44
Nature,
allow me just one question,
one serious question:
“Haven’t I mistaken you?”
49
Fragmented lines,
a little spray on the sea of learning.
Yet the lights in them gleam and sparkle:
a maze of stars set into the heavens of the heart.
73
Worthless words,
thrown on the fire,
transformed into worthless light.
74
The child
is a great poet,
with an imperfect tongue,
lisping perfect verse.
81
Deep night—
I am tired, let me
lay down my pen
and share a brief quiet moment with you.
97
Is it true?
The heart is just a music box,
always churning out the same old song.
(Translated by John Cayley)
14
Nature called aloud and said—
“Take your pen,
Dip it into my ocean;
Humanity’s heart is too dry and parched.”
17
The setting sun shines on the withered grass of the red wall.
Go down quickly, O sun!
You cause many young people to age early.
37
Space!
Tear away your net of stars.
Let me see the face of your light.
79
I wish before I leave this world
That I might softly, softly say to it—
“O world—
I thoroughly understand you.”
100
When the burden on the shoulder of the young
Suddenly lightens,
The brave heart—
Because of this very relief, becomes lonely and sad.
102
My questions,
My heart
Never answers in the midst of light.
But my dreams
In darkness, give me their solution.
144
The poet writes in vain,
One little heart—
Could it bring comfort
To wanderers suffering bitterly in the rain?
(Translated by Grace Boynton)