One quick... poem

We talked today in poetry class about Xu Zhimo (徐志摩, 1899-1931), an early mainland vernacular-Chinese poet. He studied in the US and England, most importantly at Cambridge about which he wrote his most famous poem, "Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again," which is already translated on the above-linked wikipedia page. That poem has been covered in song form by many, including S.H.E.. I took a stab at translating a bunch of the ones we went over in class, but only one seemed to lend itself to translation reasonably enough to put up.

Important to note: the "western sky," or here "western horizon" references the Pure Land Buddhism concept of the "Western Land of Bliss," which wikipedia describes as "a region offering respite from karmic transmigration." Paradise, basically. Anywho, the poem:

闊的海 闊的海空的天我不需要， 我也不想放一隻巨大的紙鷂 上天去捉弄四面八方的風﹔ 我衹要一分鐘 我衹要一點光 我衹要一條縫，－－ 象一個小孩子爬伏 在一間暗屋的窗前 望著西天邊不死的一條 縫，一點 光，一分 鐘。 The Vast Ocean I don't need the vast ocean, the open skies, nor do I want to send up a huge paper kite into the sky to tease the four winds; I just need one quick minute I just need one point of light I just need one thin seam, -- Like a small child climbing up the window in a dark room to gaze upon the undying western horizon's one thin seam, one point of light, one quick minute.

-Xu Zhimo, t. Rob Voigt