“Quietly I leave, as quietly as I came here.”
Each year thousands of Chinese tourists visit Cambridge, not to see the usual sites, but to pay homage to a poem they all had to learn by heart in school – Xu Zhimo’s ‘Saying Goodbye to Cambridge Again’. Few non-Chinese speakers will have heard of it.
“Saying Goodbye again and again” takes a sonic journey along the River Cam capturing the voices of teachers, students, tourists, punt chauffeurs, a tour guide, a translator and experts on early 20th century Chinese poetry. Also visiting Cambridge are two poets from two very different backgrounds – Sean Street and Xin Zeng – who muse on the life of Xu Zhimo and explore the hidden depths of a poem which used ideas from the English romantics to help break the strict rules of classical Chinese poetry.
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【PinYin】 |
【English】 |
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Saying Good-bye to Cambridge Again |
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By Xu Zhimo |
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Very quietly I take my leave |
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As quietly as I came here; |
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Quietly I wave good-bye |
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To the rosy clouds in the western sky. |
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The golden willows by the riverside |
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Are young brides in the setting sun; |
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Their reflections on the shimmering waves |
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Always linger in the depth of my heart. |
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The floating heart growing in the sludge |
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Sways leisurely under the water; |
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In the gentle waves of Cambridge |
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I would be a water plant! |
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That pool under the shade of elm trees |
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Holds not water but the rainbow from the sky; |
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Shattered to pieces among the duckweeds |
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Is the sediment of a rainbow-like dream. |
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To seek a dream? Just to pole a boat upstream |
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To where the green grass is more verdant; |
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Or to have the boat fully loaded with starlight |
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And sing aloud in the splendor of starlight. |
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But I cannot sing aloud |
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Quietness is my farewell music; |
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Even summer insects heap silence for me |
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Silent is Cambridge tonight! |
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Very quietly I take my leave |
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As quietly as I came here; |
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Gently I flick my sleeves |
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Not even a wisp of cloud will I bring away |