Written by Chinese Poet Hongri Yuan
Translated by Yuanbing zhang

Who is sitting in the heaven and staring at me?
Who is sitting in the golden palace of tomorrow?
Who is smilling?
The golden staff in his hand

Flashing the dazzling light
Ah, the flashes of lightning
Interweaved over my head
I walked into a crystal corridor of the time

I want to open
The doors of gold
Lines of words in the sun
Singing to me in the sky

I want to find
The volumes of gold poems
On the shores of the new century
To build the city of gold.

Laozi with rosy cheek and white hair
Smiling at me in the clouds
A phoenix danced trippingly
And carried in a book of gold.

Lines of mysterious words
Made my eyes drunken
Countless giant figures
Came towards me from the clouds.

The times of seventy million years
Emerged leisurely before my eyes
The cities of gold
Surrounded with the crystals garden.

The sky of sapphire
Sent out the colorful miraculous brightness
On the green hills of jasper
Dragons and phoenixes were flying.

Exquisite pagoda
Majestical palace of gold
The airy pavilions and pagodas
Standing in the purple-red clouds.

The laughing girls
Riding the colorful husbands and wives
The propitious clouds
Sprinkling the colorful flowers.

I opened the door to a golden palace
Saw the rows of scrolls of the gold
A giant with the haloes all over his body
There was a golden sun over his head.

With smiles, he picked up the books of gold
Recited the sacred verses
I was intoxicated with miraculous wonderful words
Surrounded with the purple-gold flames all over his body.

A golden lotus
Bloomed beneath my feet
Lifted up my body
Wafted up from the golden palace.

The red clouds
Drifting by my side
Outside of the sky I saw
Another golden paradise.

The leisurely bells
Calling to me
The countless giants
Roaming in a golden garden.

The sky of the ruby
The rounds of sun
Like the golden lotus
Blooming in the sky.

The intoxicating fragrance of flowers
Like the sweet good wine
The golden trees
Were laden with the dazzling diamonds

The wonderful flowers
Bloomed for the housands of years
The land of gold
Inlaid with the gems.

The pavilions of gold
Strewn at random and overlapped
Someone was playing chess
Someone was chatting.

Quaint clothes
Colossal statures
Miraculous eyes
Happy and comfortable.

The white cranes
Flying in the sky
The husbands and wives
Crowing leisurely.

Beside the old man ,I came
As if he was waiting for me
On the golden pavilion
He opened an ancient sword casket.

A glittering ancient sword
Engraved some abstruse words and expressions
Were clear and transparent like lightning –
A dimly glowing purplish-red pattern.

He told me a metaphysical epic
The sword came from nine billions years ago
Which, was made from hundreds of millions of suns
It was a sacred sword of the sun.

It could pierce the rocks of time
Open the layer after layer skies
Let the sacred fire smelt the heaven and the earth
Into the golden paradises.

The old man’s eyes were deep, archaic and abstruse
Dimly shone the joyful flames-
He let me take this sword
To fly towards a new golden paradise.

The huge golden lotus floated leisurely
I flew over the sky thousands of miles away
The huge pyramids
Impressively in front of my eyes.

The mountainous figure of giants
Walked about in front of the pyramid
The huge pyramids of gold
Were much taller than the mountains.

The giant trees of gold
Like a forest
Stood in the sky
Laden with the stars.

There in the multicoloured propitious clouds,
Was a huge bird
In the silvery sky
Crowing joyfully.

 

I came to the front of a pyramid

A door was opening wide

A group of blond giants sat

With smiles in the grand palace.

 

There as a holy great old man

reciting the singular language-

The temple was painted with

magical symbols and the

Giant pictures of gods.

 

The palace was full of silvery white light

blooming with huge wonderful flowers

A peal of wonderful mellifluous bells

made the person suddenly forget all time.

 

I heard an immemorial verse

Tt was written hundreds of millions of years ago;

It related countless eras of giants

that created the holy kingdoms of heaven.

 

Their wisdom was sacred and great

and knew completely the past and the future of the universe

They flew freely in the sky

Landed on the millions of planets in the universe,

 

They made time change at your pleasure

Which could reach spaces

Make a stone turn into gold-

Make the gold bloom flowers.

 

They were like the round sun

Which could erupt the sacred flames-

Let all things blaze in raging flames

Turn into their imagination works

 

They landed on the planets

Established the golden paradises

with their magic abstruse wisdom

and builted the platinum cities.

 

I saw the gorgeous words

Flashing in the volume of gold

And the magical wonderful halos

Rotating like colored lightning in the sky.

 

I came to another wonderful heaven and earth

And saw a huge Edifice of platinum

The whole city was like a piece of work

Sending out quietly the brilliant white light.

 

A huge round square

Enchased some unearthly works

The giants of great stature

Came and went leisurely in the street.

 

They wore singular clothes

Shone all over their bodies

With smiles on their face

Both men and women looked beautiful.

 

They spoke wonderful language

which was as intriguing and pleasant as music

Some of them run moved by

Spaceship flying around silently in the sky.

 

I walked into a huge edifice of platinum

Saw a magnificent hall

Platinum wall was inlaid with gems

There were also a row of unusual instruments.

 

Their eyes were like bright springs

They wore multicoloured clothes

Some of them were operating instruments

Some of them were talking with each other, softly.

 

I saw a magical picture

With drawings of giant planets,

There the cities stood

And there aslo, were crystal gardens.

 

I opened a crystal door

Saw a group of happy men and women,

They were singing softly

The blinking books of gold were in their hands.

 

Both the clusters of flower and the glasses of golden wine

Were on the huge round table

The golden walls were sparkling

Carved with all kinds of wonderful pictures.

 

I saw a demure girl

The golden halo was sparkling on her head

She was dressed in a purple-gold longuette

which was as peerless as a sculpture.

 

The pages were marked with whimsical words

Like lines of ancient magic symbols

Each book was made of gold

Like a golden crystal.

 

I understood their euphonious songs

They were singing of the sacred love

They were singing abot great ancestors;

they were recounting the civilization of the universe.

 

Their city had gardens everywhere

Surrounded with sweet rivers

The whole earth was a piece of jade

And the clay was a layer of transparent golden sand .

 

I saw some white-bright huge balls

Suspended high above the city

The giant balls were sending out dazzling light

And the heaven and the earth shone as bright as the crystal.

 

The towering great buildings stood in great numbers

As if they were carved by a whole piece of platinum

Both the doves and some colorful

birds were flying in the sky.

 

I saw a singular train

Flying swiftly forward in the sky

The streets were white and bright

And any moving vehicle could not been seen.

 

Their bodies were unusually strong

Playing a wonderful game,

They piled up the pieces of great stones

into some grotesque works.

 

Both like some giant eyes

And some ancient totems

There were also some strange birds

Covered with lightning feathers all over their bodies.

 

I saw a couple of tall lovers

They aviated a spaceship

Their eyes were quiet and bright

A colorful halo shonearound their bodies.

 

The wonderful space was gyrating leisurely

Like a huge, resplendent crystal

I said goodbye to the unusual city

And moved towards a space of golden light.

 

The cities flashed in the sky

I flew over the layers of the sky again

And I saw a newfangled world-

A multicoloured city of crystal.

 

The high towers were exquisitely carved,

Shinning like multicoloured pearls

The layers of eaves were painted with dragon and phoenix

There hung the singing golden bells.

 

The earth was a crystal garden

The palaces were limpid and crystal

Huge mountains were like transparent gems

Lined with the golden trees.

 

I saw tall giants

Wearing purple clothes

There were a round sun above their heads

And their bodies reflected a shining halo.

 

They sat up in the main halls

Singing a mellifluous song

Some were roaming leisurely in the garden

Some were summoning the birds in the sky.

 

The crystalline airy pavilions and pagodas

Were beset with jewels and agates

A huge jewel on the spir

Shining the golden lights.

 

I saw a holy giant

Sitting in the middle of a main hall

The purple-gold flame flashed around his body

Filling the whole majestic main hall.

 

Full-bodied fragrance filled the hall

Like a cup of refreshing wine

Solemn expression was merciful and joyful

A huge book was in his hand.

 

The hall was full of men and women

Listening quietly to the psalms of the saints

The lotuses were floating in the sky

where the smiling giants sat.

 

The golden light poured down from the sky

Bathing the crystal kingdom

The jewels above the giant

towers were golden suns.

 

The golden walls of a golden tower

Were carved with lines of flashing words

Flying around the dragons and phoenixes

as if they were intonating the inspiring poems.

 

The smiling giants had huge haloes

That flashed around their bodies;

Each was dignified and tranquil

Floating in the golden transparent sky.

I flew over the crystal kingdom
And saw the vast golden mountain in the distance
That was sending out the brilliant lights in the sky
Where the propitious clouds were blossoming.

There was a golden giant
sitting in the golden transparent sky
His body was composed of thousands of millions of constellations;
the golden sun was rotating on his forehead.

He lit up the whole marvellous universe;
the kingdoms of heaven shone in the sky
Here there was no the sky or Earth
The up-down four-direction were the lights of pure gold.

The smiling giants were sitting
on the gold-engraved pavilions
The pavilions levitated in the transparent sky
shining the layers of purple-gold light.

There were multicoloured transparent mountains
Propitious clouds floated in the sky;
large wonderful flowers were blooming in the mountain peaks
And there were also trees of light.

A river flowed from the sky
and the bottom reflected a layer of golden sand
There were strange and beautiful birds and
the beastswere like some aerial phantoms.

This was a world of light
Everything was made of light
The divine light formed all things,
And the golden paradises

The golden giant I saw was
Shining the kingdoms of heaven in his body;
I saw the cities of gold
brilliant and fascinating in his bones.

I saw lines of extremely large words
arranged into a huge book in the sky
It seemed as if they were the bright stars
constituted a wonderful drawing.

There was a golden pavilion in the sky
floating around with huge dragons and phoenixes
An old man with a whisk
waved to me and smiled.

I was attracted by the magical
Leisurely,I came to his side
He told me the golden giant
Was my great ancestor.

This was an eternal palace
With no sense of time
Holy light was God
What I saw was better than heaven.

He pointed to the huge book in the sky
and told me that it held the mystery of the universe
The book contained magical wisdom
and created the countless worlds of gold.

He pointed to a pagoda in the sky
Told me that was the temple of words;
the light turned into the sacred words
and the words created the time of gold.

He held up a very large pearl
In which flashed pictures
He told me that it was the future
Tt was all of the wonderful worlds.

He told me that it was another universe.
I wanted to go to the other paradises
He gave me the magical pearl
and said it would be my future guide

I said goodbye to the holy old man
I set foot on a new road of the heaven again
I sat in a golden pavilion
Lightly flew to the distant outer space.

###

2.9.1998

Bio:Hongri Yuan, born in China in 1962, is a poet and philosopher interested particularly in creation. Representative works include Platinum City, Gold City, Golden Paradise , Gold Sun and Golden Giant. His poetry has been published in the UK, USA ,India ,New Zealand, Canada and

Nigeria.