Returned to tell of the larger world,

我回來了，現在來講一下我漂泊在外的教訓：

I rode the wind north and south beside the great river,

houses desolate as if the saints had all vanished,

「我就像風一樣走遍了大江南北，

people’s brains dwindled by trivia

我看見人們的房子散發著聖者已逝的氣息，

to dead twigs, dark as coughed-up blood.

他們被外在的事物耗盡的腦汁，

猶如落葉吐在運河上的血。」

Death cannot humble them,

nor set their feet upon the earth

「死亡也沒有辦法把他們變得謙卑，腳踏實地，

while spite casts dark rancor across their faces.

我看見怨恨給人們的臉上帶去的不祥和尖刻，

Behind the walls of the crumbling city

衰微的城墻難以再傳達竹林的迴響，

one cannot hear the whispers of bamboo.

人們在獄中吃喝拉撒，目光不超過眼前三寸。」

People eat, drink, shit, and piss imprisoned, seeing only

three inches from their nose.

「沒有悲痛的能力，也沒有歡樂的能力，

我們把土地，也就是靈魂，丟了。

Compassion’s lost with joy,

唉，真悲慘，我們的處境就像是廣漠荒野上的孤魂，

our land lost with our spirits.

被風聲吹到這兒，吹到那兒，彼此仇恨，忌妒……」

We’re miserable, lonely ghosts

roaming a vast wilderness,

「我已遺忘了落日的光輝和它的陰影，

blown here, blown there,

我已遺忘了臭水河和破損的墻頭也是我的化身。

hating each other, envying.

因為我一看見她們就痛苦，

我遺忘了，我們本是一棵樹上兩片對稱的葉子。」

I’ve forgotten the radiance of sunset amid shadows,

forgotten the pungent rivers, these walls, broken like us,

「我們用了太多精力來對抗暴戾，

painful to behold. Forgotten

忘記了自身美德的建立，目光呆滯，

we were leaves once, paired on a single tree.

還有一些喪失了戒律，又乾又硬……

星光呀！請快快刺破這一切在我心中形成的淤血。」

So much life spent under cruelty, tyranny,

our gaze gone blank, our virtue famished.

Strayed from the path, so many souls dried hard.

Pierce, sharp stars, these bloodclots in my heart.