Poetry

Dominik Vanyi photo

 

By

Hongri Yuan

 

 

 

Golden and Transparent

 

 

When the dainty of dawn lights up your body

You shall see the golden country in stone.

The Giant is walking in the sky

His hand holds aloft a Diamond City.

In the garden outside the sky

The other one robed in transparent gold;

He’s smiling at you.

And behind him, is a huge palace.

 

 

 

 

 

Flash of the Giant

 

 

When I walk the City

I shall hold it in my hand.

Blowing a breath to make it transparent.

So I saw it in the future:

The Gem edifice, a flash of the giant.

The stars cling to their bodies

As if from another universe

So I know that the sea will be sweet

And the earth will be noble as gold.

 

 

 

 

 

The City of Stars

 

 

White and blue night.

A Crystal smile.

Night is a pawn

Devoured by red lips of lightning.

 

There appears a song in the sky

It sprinkles down with rain and dew

There is a colossal ship in the sky

Twinkling like the City of the Stars.

 

 

 

Above poems translated by Manu Mangattu

 

 

 

 

Golden Paradise

 

 

Gold birds, ah!

Flew above my head

A golden ribbon

Spreading out to me from the sky

I saw the golden mountains

Smiling at me in the distance

The layers of airy pavilions and pagodas

Standing in the purple-red clouds

The gardens in the sky, ah?

The exquisite pagodas

The bridge of golds and gems ah?

Arched across the vast expanse of the Milky Way

I saw a giant

Waving to me in the sky

Stood on the propitious clouds

Shining millions of rays

 

The huge figure ah!

Like a high mountain

The golden dragons!

Fluttering around him

 

A round of sun, ah?

Shining above his head

The golden robe, ah!

Burning in the halos

 

I saw his magical eyes

And couldn’t help thinking of the remote past

Ah,hundreds of millions of centuries ago

We once got together happily

 

You were both my great teacher

And also my close companion

We created together

The countless heavenly paradise

 

Your golden smile, ah

Made my heart beat lightly

The glistening tears ah!

Lingered in my eyes

 

Your holy hands of giant, ah!

Hold tightly with me

You dressed me a golden robe

Which was embroidered with dragons and phoenixes

 

The words of gold, ah!

Flew in your breast

And turned into the mysterious light

Shining in your eyes

 

I understood your gleamy words

And my heart laughed brilliantly

A round huge sun

Burning over my head

 

You opened the city gates of gold for me

And watched me crossing the huge garden

A lofty palace

Shone in front of my eyes

 

In the transparent white jade railings

Carved with the beautiful patterns

The steps made of the rubies

Reflected the smiling face of the sky

 

The huge column of gold, ah!

Carved with the wonderful flowers

The layers of eaves were hight above the sky

Like the golden birds spreading in the clouds

 

A holy old man

Stood majestically in front of the palace;

his body was as transparent as the flame

Sending out the resplendent red light

 

Your bright eyes, ah!

Contained the purple-gold flames

There are golden dragons

Circling around the golden staff in hands

 

Your high forehead, ah!

Rose like the mountains

The layers of purple-gold flames, ah!

Wreathing around your body

 

The golden lightnings, ah!

Shining in your bright eyes

I saw the rounds of sun

Burning in your head

 

You opened the door to the palace

And took me into it

A huge palace

Smiling at me in the sky

 

I saw the books of gold

Arranged in walls of the palace

The lines of gold words, ah!

Shining the charmingly light

 

The holy old man, ah!

Let me sit in the palace

To read the books of gold

And drink the good wine of wisdom

 

He raised the golden staff in his hands

Sent out the golden lights

The huge books of gold

Flew into my chest

 

The lights were shining before me

And I saw another sight

The countless gold giants

Flying lightly in the sky

 

The multi-coloured transparent sky

Many airy pavilions and pagodas

And the happy girls

Dancing and singing in the sky,

 

A young giant

Hold up the sun

In a transparent mountain top

Sending out the bottomless light

 

An old man with gray hair

Stepped on an auspicious cloud

And stood stilly in the sky

Smiling at the giant

 

A huge golden mountain

Which was transparent and gleamy in flames

Turned into a palace

And a exquisite gold pagoda

 

The young boys and girls

Riding with the colorful husbands and wifes

Shed the multi-colouredflowers

And which turned into the Gardens

 

I heard an intoxicating tweet

A huge phoenix

Carried a roll of golden books

Flying towards me from the clouds

 

The lines of mysterious words

Like the stars

Arranged into the singular figures

Shining before my eyes

 

A huge white crane

Turned into a young girl

who opened a treasure casket

While flashing a golden sword

 

A round piece of jade

Carved with the dragon designs

And there were the lines of words

Flashed the dazzling light

 

An old man with gray hair

Rode a kylin

Which flew leisurely in the sky

Carried a sword on his back

 

A huge sun

With a golden palace in the central of it?

revealed a young Prince

Reading the golden books in the palace

 

A huge mirror

Flashed in front of my eyes

A bolt of lightening

Awakened me in my dreams

 

I went back to the palace again

The magical old man

Still held the golden staff

And stood in front of my eyes

 

The golden books, ah!

Still shining on the walls

But the words of gold, ah!

Singing exactly in my chest

 

The huge golden statue, ah!

Flashed the dazzling light

The holy old man, ah!

The kindly smile appeared on his face

 

The layers of purple-gold flames, ah!

Surround me all around

The stars with much light, ah!

Shining in my body

 

I saw a huge golden crown

That few out of the old man’s hand

And turned into a sun ah!

Which embedded in my forehead

 

Suddenly a flash of lightning, ah?

Went into my eyes

I saw a gold pagoda, ah!

Shining in the sky

 

A golden giant

Stood with smiles in front of the pagoda

A gold garden

Embraced the golden pagoda

 

The holy giant

Took me out of the palace

A white crane was called in

And flew to the sky with me

 

It was like a white light ah?

I came to the pagoda in the twinkling of an eye

The huge pagoda of gold, ah!

Was higher than the mountains on earth

 

It was more than ninety thousand floors

The height of each floor was ten thousand meters

It was like a universe

Containing the countless worlds

 

The countless suns, ah!

Shining on the floors of pagoda

The multicoloured stars, ah!

Constituted these wonderful designs

 

The countless dragons, ah!

Flying around the huge pagoda

The lines of wods of the stars

Shining in the transparent walls of gold

 

The golden giant, ah!

Wore the diamond armor

Smiled at me briefly

And opened the door of the pagoda for me

 

On the huge door carved with gold

Mysterious patterns were convex and concave

Like the countless stars, ah?

Spinning in the golden space

 

A golden palace, ah!

Were full of wonderful giant flowers;

The huge gold tripods

Burned in the raging flames

 

The giants were sitting

On the purple-gold pavilions

They smild at me joyfully

Like the long time parting families

 

The golden winding stairs

Coiled round the columns of the palace

Like the huge golden dragons

Flying into the sky with their head held high

 

I saw a huge ball

Which was in the middle of the palace

Like a clear and transparent crystal

Rotating the golden pictures

 

There seemed to be countless worlds

Fashing leisurely in the crystal

The golden paradises

Made my eyes drunken

 

The wonderful bells

Suddenly sounded in my ears

The giants that were sitting

Sang the thundering songs

 

The songs were like the golden lightning

Shining in my body from all quarters

My heart was empty suddenly

And saw the things of billions of years ago

 

Originally I myself builted

The huge pagoda of gold

The lines of stars on the golden wall

Just were the poems that I had written

 

The smiling giants ah!

All of them were my former partner

The huge crystal balls ah!

Were a golden universe

 

The golden pagoda with more than ninety thousand floors, ah?

Contain the countless the times and spaces

Like a golden staircase of time ah?

Linking up with the countless heavens

 

Into the stars that had been turned by time ah!

It’s the sacred words

Each of the golden poems

Created a paradise

 

The huge golden tripods ah!

Burning the flame of time

Smelted out the countless stars

Forming the universes

 

The countless giants were sitting

On the transparent pagoda of gold

The light of their songs

Turned into the rounds of sun

 

I saw the crystal sky, ah?

Rotating outside the golden pagoda

There seemed to be countless golden pagoda

Shining in the sky

 

I seemed not to exist

And turned into the boundless light

The countless huge pagodas of gold

were just in my luminous chest

 

The countless giants who were sitting up

Smiled at me on the golden pagoda;

Their dazzling smils, ah!

Flashed the golden eternity

 

 

 

Translated by Yuanbing zhang

 

 

 

 

 

Hongri Yuan

Hongri Yuan, born in China in 1962, is a poet and philosopher interested particularly in creation. Representative works include Platinum City, The City of Gold, Golden Paradise , Gold Sun and Golden Giant. His poetry has been published in the UK, USA ,India ,New Zealand, Canada and Nigeria.