Poetry International Poetry International
Poem

Zheng Xiaoqiong

Xurong

Out of its futility life breeds countless illusions
Even in the face of     death and gloomy failures
I’m full of resplendent respect for life
It’s life     that allows me to witness the strangest scenes on earth
I read the fate of these women     or mine
Our bodies and souls eaten hollow by industry     we
have lost ourselves too soon     being dissolved by reality
only illness broken fingers     wounds retain remnants of our era’s memories
As I write down these lines your pale face
reveals your frailty  dizziness     palpitations     your breathing
labored    You’ve gradually got used to what the industrial age brings
diseases     pains     glues     benzene ... entangled in the veins
Bodily pains are not as frightening as     the sickness of society
Countless people who share your fate     don’t know
the root cause of their illnesses     They leave others’ cities to return to their villages
suffering ailments     dying in silence     becoming part of the voiceless
Industry is still displaying its own vain landscape in its own way
society still intoxicated with inexplicable prosperity     You drag
your ailing body     from the factory to the Occupational Disease Appraisal Center
to the Environmental Protection Center     to the Department of Labor    You endure
both social and bodily illnesses     Tablets of medicine 
flowing in your blood    strangle the throat of your sickness for the time being
Social malady continues to rot     from one canker
to another     making you see more clearly
the truths of life     True     these outrageous
ailments     are too real to speak of     but you must
find their root cause     I see in your lonely gaze
the glint of honesty     There’s too much pain     we mustn’t continue to
endure its infliction blindly     “So many people died without their occupational
illnesses appraised”
It’s more difficult than “the arduous paths to Shu”*  We are both from Shu,
experiencing the tortuous
cliffhangers of our fate    from “off the docket” to “thoracotomy for lung
examination”*2

I am filled with uncontrollable pain and rage . . .






________________

*“蜀道难”  This phrase—“the arduous paths to Shu”—is from a poem “Shudao nan” /(“Difficulty Paths to Shu”) by the Tang poet Libai.  It refers to the extremely arduous paths from the ancient city Changan (present day Xian) in Shanxi Province to Shu (the alias of Xichan Province).
 *2“开胸验肺” /“thoracotomy for lung examination” alludes to the extreme difficulties migrant workers encounter in having their occupational diseases appraised. The speakers refers to a widely publicized case of a migrant worker from Henan, Zhang Haizhao, who was diagnosed by several hospitals as suffering from pneumoconiosis. However, because those hospitals were not officially established by law as occupational disease appraisal institutions, the diagnosis was “useless.”  His factory refused to provide him with documents of evidence. . Eventually he requested to have “thoracotomy” to prove his case. This incident is commonly referred to as “thoracotomy for lung examination.” https://baike.baidu.com/item/开胸验肺事件/8951444?fromtitle=开胸验肺&fromid=8356806&fr=aladdin

Xurong

in zijn zinloosheid heeft het leven volop zin verzonnen
geconfronteerd met de grauwe nederlaag van de dood     desondanks zit ik
nog altijd vol grandioos respect voor het leven
dat leven     laat mij getuige zijn van de schitterendste landschappen van deze wereld
ik lees over het lot van deze vrouwen     of van mij
lichaam en ziel aangevreten door de industrialisatie     wij
zijn vroegtijdig onszelf verloren     geëlimineerd uit de werkelijkheid
resteren ziektes      afgerukte vingers     herinneringen aan wonden die het tijdperk overleven
terwijl ik deze regels schrijf     toont jouw bleke gezicht
de breekbaarheid van je lijf     duizelingen     hartkloppingen     moeizame
ademhaling     geleidelijk plooi je je naar het industriële tijdperk
met zijn bijbehorende ongemakken     lijm     benzeen . . . opgehoopt in aders
angstaanjagender dan lichamelijke pijn     zijn de kwalen in de maatschappij
talloze vrouwen met eenzelfde lot als jij     ze snappen de oorzaak
van de ziekte niet     vanuit de steden van anderen keren ze terug naar hun eigen streek
doorstaan de kwellingen van hun ziekte     sterven in stilte     worden het stille deel
de industrie toont nog steeds volgens zijn eigen aanpak een landschap van ijdelheid
de maatschappij is nog altijd dronken van de onverklaarbare welvaart     jij sleept
je zwakke lijf     van de fabriek naar het diagnosecentrum voor beroepsziekten
naar het centrum voor milieubescherming     naar de instantie voor fysieke arbeid     je
verdraagt     de marteling van sociale én lichamelijke ziektes     medicijnen
stromen door je aderen     houden tijdelijk de keel van je ziekte onder controle
sociale ziekten blijven zweren     van de ene kwaal
naar de andere     ze laten je nog duidelijker
de waarheid van het leven doorzien     zeker     deze ziektes die mensen
razend maken      brengen mensen echt tot zwijgen     maar jij moet
de oorsprong van je ziekte vinden     in je eenzame blik zie ik
het ware licht     er is al genoeg pijn     we kunnen niet nog
domweg in pijn blijven     “velen sterven zonder de diagnose beroepsziekte te krijgen”
deze weg is zwaarder dan die naar Shu      wij komen allemaal uit Shu*     ondergaan het lot
op deze kronkelige spannende bergwegen     van afwijzing naar thoracotomie voor longonderzoek*2
ik zit vol onbedwingbare pijn en woede . . .



_____________
* Verwijzing naar het beroemde gedicht ‘De weg naar Shu is zwaar’ van Li Bai (701-762), over de gevaarlijke weg tussen de hoofdstad Chang’an naar Shu, die via een ontoegankelijk gebergte liep. Shu was in die tijd de benaming voor de huidige provincie Sichuan, waar veel migrantenarbeiders vandaan komen. (Zie de vertaling van W.L. Idema in de Spiegel van de klassieke Chinese poëzie.)
*2 Verwijzing naar de beroemde zaak van de arbeider Zhang Haichao die op jonge leeftijd pneumoconiosis kreeg. Die diagnose werd in eerste instantie niet erkend omdat hij was gesteld in een ziekenhuis dat niet gemachtigd was voor beroepsziekten. Zhang vroeg ten slotte om een thoracotomie om de ziekte te bewijzen. In 2013 heeft hij een dubbele longtransplantatie gekregen.

旭容

人生在无意义中被虚妄出无数意义
面对死亡灰暗的失败 尽管这样
我依然对生命充满辉煌的敬意
是它 让我目睹尘世最奇妙的风景
我读这些女人的命运 或者我自己
工业蛀空的肉体与灵魂 我们
过早失去自身 被消解在现实中
剩下疾病 断指 伤口残存时代的记忆
我写下这些句子时 你苍白的面容
呈现身体的孱弱 头昏 心悸 呼吸如此
艰难 你慢慢适应工业时代
带来的病痛 胶水 苯……在血管纠结
可怕的不是肉体的疼痛 来自社会的疾病
无数与你相同命运的人 她们不知
病根 从别人的城市回到自己的乡村
饱受疾病的折磨 默默死去 成为无声的部分
工业还是以自己的方式呈现虚荣的风景
社会还沉醉于无法诠释的繁荣 你拖着
衰弱的躯体 从工厂到职业病鉴定中心
到环保中心 到劳动部门 你忍受
社会与身体双层疾病的折磨 药片
在你的血管里流动 它暂时扼住疾病的咽喉
社会的疾病仍在继续溃烂下去 从一种病痛
到另外一种病痛 它们让你更清晰地
看清楚人生的真相 的确 这些令人愤怒的
病痛 真实得让人无话可说 但是你必须
找出身体的病根 我看到你孤独的眼神里
最真实的光亮 疼痛已经够多了 我们不能再
糊涂地疼痛 “多少人到死都得不到职业病的鉴定”
它比蜀道更难 我们都是来自蜀地 在曲折惊险的
山道间感受命运 从“不予受理”到“开胸验肺”
我充满着难以抑制的疼痛与愤怒……
Close

Xurong

Out of its futility life breeds countless illusions
Even in the face of     death and gloomy failures
I’m full of resplendent respect for life
It’s life     that allows me to witness the strangest scenes on earth
I read the fate of these women     or mine
Our bodies and souls eaten hollow by industry     we
have lost ourselves too soon     being dissolved by reality
only illness broken fingers     wounds retain remnants of our era’s memories
As I write down these lines your pale face
reveals your frailty  dizziness     palpitations     your breathing
labored    You’ve gradually got used to what the industrial age brings
diseases     pains     glues     benzene ... entangled in the veins
Bodily pains are not as frightening as     the sickness of society
Countless people who share your fate     don’t know
the root cause of their illnesses     They leave others’ cities to return to their villages
suffering ailments     dying in silence     becoming part of the voiceless
Industry is still displaying its own vain landscape in its own way
society still intoxicated with inexplicable prosperity     You drag
your ailing body     from the factory to the Occupational Disease Appraisal Center
to the Environmental Protection Center     to the Department of Labor    You endure
both social and bodily illnesses     Tablets of medicine 
flowing in your blood    strangle the throat of your sickness for the time being
Social malady continues to rot     from one canker
to another     making you see more clearly
the truths of life     True     these outrageous
ailments     are too real to speak of     but you must
find their root cause     I see in your lonely gaze
the glint of honesty     There’s too much pain     we mustn’t continue to
endure its infliction blindly     “So many people died without their occupational
illnesses appraised”
It’s more difficult than “the arduous paths to Shu”*  We are both from Shu,
experiencing the tortuous
cliffhangers of our fate    from “off the docket” to “thoracotomy for lung
examination”*2

I am filled with uncontrollable pain and rage . . .






________________

*“蜀道难”  This phrase—“the arduous paths to Shu”—is from a poem “Shudao nan” /(“Difficulty Paths to Shu”) by the Tang poet Libai.  It refers to the extremely arduous paths from the ancient city Changan (present day Xian) in Shanxi Province to Shu (the alias of Xichan Province).
 *2“开胸验肺” /“thoracotomy for lung examination” alludes to the extreme difficulties migrant workers encounter in having their occupational diseases appraised. The speakers refers to a widely publicized case of a migrant worker from Henan, Zhang Haizhao, who was diagnosed by several hospitals as suffering from pneumoconiosis. However, because those hospitals were not officially established by law as occupational disease appraisal institutions, the diagnosis was “useless.”  His factory refused to provide him with documents of evidence. . Eventually he requested to have “thoracotomy” to prove his case. This incident is commonly referred to as “thoracotomy for lung examination.” https://baike.baidu.com/item/开胸验肺事件/8951444?fromtitle=开胸验肺&fromid=8356806&fr=aladdin

Xurong

Out of its futility life breeds countless illusions
Even in the face of     death and gloomy failures
I’m full of resplendent respect for life
It’s life     that allows me to witness the strangest scenes on earth
I read the fate of these women     or mine
Our bodies and souls eaten hollow by industry     we
have lost ourselves too soon     being dissolved by reality
only illness broken fingers     wounds retain remnants of our era’s memories
As I write down these lines your pale face
reveals your frailty  dizziness     palpitations     your breathing
labored    You’ve gradually got used to what the industrial age brings
diseases     pains     glues     benzene ... entangled in the veins
Bodily pains are not as frightening as     the sickness of society
Countless people who share your fate     don’t know
the root cause of their illnesses     They leave others’ cities to return to their villages
suffering ailments     dying in silence     becoming part of the voiceless
Industry is still displaying its own vain landscape in its own way
society still intoxicated with inexplicable prosperity     You drag
your ailing body     from the factory to the Occupational Disease Appraisal Center
to the Environmental Protection Center     to the Department of Labor    You endure
both social and bodily illnesses     Tablets of medicine 
flowing in your blood    strangle the throat of your sickness for the time being
Social malady continues to rot     from one canker
to another     making you see more clearly
the truths of life     True     these outrageous
ailments     are too real to speak of     but you must
find their root cause     I see in your lonely gaze
the glint of honesty     There’s too much pain     we mustn’t continue to
endure its infliction blindly     “So many people died without their occupational
illnesses appraised”
It’s more difficult than “the arduous paths to Shu”*  We are both from Shu,
experiencing the tortuous
cliffhangers of our fate    from “off the docket” to “thoracotomy for lung
examination”*2

I am filled with uncontrollable pain and rage . . .






________________

*“蜀道难”  This phrase—“the arduous paths to Shu”—is from a poem “Shudao nan” /(“Difficulty Paths to Shu”) by the Tang poet Libai.  It refers to the extremely arduous paths from the ancient city Changan (present day Xian) in Shanxi Province to Shu (the alias of Xichan Province).
 *2“开胸验肺” /“thoracotomy for lung examination” alludes to the extreme difficulties migrant workers encounter in having their occupational diseases appraised. The speakers refers to a widely publicized case of a migrant worker from Henan, Zhang Haizhao, who was diagnosed by several hospitals as suffering from pneumoconiosis. However, because those hospitals were not officially established by law as occupational disease appraisal institutions, the diagnosis was “useless.”  His factory refused to provide him with documents of evidence. . Eventually he requested to have “thoracotomy” to prove his case. This incident is commonly referred to as “thoracotomy for lung examination.” https://baike.baidu.com/item/开胸验肺事件/8951444?fromtitle=开胸验肺&fromid=8356806&fr=aladdin

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