The following is a translation of "A Poem
for Carl Thayler" into
Chinese, based on the
meaning of the poem.
The translation is courtesy of Howard's
daughter-in-law Bo Pan Ko.
Traditional Chinese techniques of symbolism,
metaphor, exaggeration and rhythm are used to translate the poem. The
form of the poem is "7 words, 4 lines," which had been very
popular in ancient Chinese since the Tang Dynasty (around 700 A.D.)
Old poet,
his cane flashing
like a sword,
fights ghosts
and autumn leaves
as he walks
in the woods.
An explanation of the symbols
used in the translation:
white-haired poet's cane like a rainbow
(gray hair is called white hair in
Chinese. The "qi" of a sword is always described as a
rainbow. So this cane has the "qi" of a sword)
swinging, slashing, chops demons
the glint shakes the autumn forest
scares off the leaves
blithely walks in the ten thousand trees woods
(it is clear that the poet walks
blithely)
-----
The following is a fairly direct translation. There is only a slight
change of the usage of words to make it rhyme and look more like a
poetic form.
-----
Old poet,
his cane flashing
like a sword,
fights ghosts
and autumn leaves
as he walks
in the woods.
