Poem: Golden Paradise
By Chinese Poet Hongri Yuan
Translated by Yuanbing zhang
Gold birds, ah!
Flew above my head
A golden ribbon
Spreading out to me from the sky
I saw the golden mountains
Smiling at me in the distance
The layers of airy pavilions and pagodas
Standing in the purple-red clouds
The gardens in the sky, ah!
The exquisite pagodas
The bridge of golds and gems ah!
Arched across the vast expanse of the Milky Way
I saw a giant
Waving to me in the sky
Stood on the propitious clouds
Shining millions of rays
The huge figure ah!
Like a high mountain
The golden dragons!
Fluttering around him
A round of sun, ah!
Shining above his head
The golden robe, ah!
Burning in the halos
I saw his magical eyes
And couldn’t help thinking of the remote past
Ah,hundreds of millions of centuries ago
We once got together happily
You were both my great teacher
And also my close companion
We created together
The countless heavenly paradise
Your golden smile, ah
Made my heart beat lightly
The glistening tears ah!
Lingered in my eyes
Your holy hands of giant, ah!
Hold tightly with me
You dressed me a golden robe
Which was embroidered with dragons and phoenixes
The words of gold, ah!
Flew in your breast
And turned into the mysterious light
Shining in your eyes
I understood your gleamy words
And my heart laughed brilliantly
A round huge sun
Burning over my head
You opened the city gates of gold for me
And watched me crossing the huge garden
A lofty palace
Shone in front of my eyes
In the transparent white jade railings
Carved with the beautiful patterns
The steps made of the rubies
Reflected the smiling face of the sky
The huge column of gold, ah!
Carved with the wonderful flowers
The layers of eaves were hight above the sky
Like the golden birds spreading in the clouds
A holy old man
Stood majestically in front of the palace;
his body was as transparent as the flame
Sending out the resplendent red light
Your bright eyes, ah!
Contained the purple-gold flames
There are golden dragons
Circling around the golden staff in hands
Your high forehead, ah!
Rose like the mountains
The layers of purple-gold flames, ah!
Wreathing around your body
The golden lightnings, ah!
Shining in your bright eyes
I saw the rounds of sun
Burning in your head
You opened the door to the palace
And took me into it
A huge palace
Smiling at me in the sky
I saw the books of gold
Arranged in walls of the palace
The lines of gold words, ah!
Shining the charmingly light
The holy old man, ah!
Let me sit in the palace
To read the books of gold
And drink the good wine of wisdom
He raised the golden staff in his hands
Sent out the golden lights
The huge books of gold
Flew into my chest
The lights were shining before me
And I saw another sight
The countless gold giants
Flying lightly in the sky
The multi-coloured transparent sky
Many airy pavilions and pagodas
And the happy girls
Dancing and singing in the sky,
A young giant
Hold up the sun
In a transparent mountain top
Sending out the bottomless light
An old man with gray hair
Stepped on an auspicious cloud
And stood stilly in the sky
Smiling at the giant
A huge golden mountain
Which was transparent and gleamy in flames
Turned into a palace
And a exquisite gold pagoda
The young boys and girls
Riding with the colorful husbands and wifes
Shed the multi-colouredflowers
And which turned into the Gardens
I heard an intoxicating tweet
A huge phoenix
Carried a roll of golden books
Flying towards me from the clouds
The lines of mysterious words
Like the stars
Arranged into the singular figures
Shining before my eyes
A huge white crane
Turned into a young girl
who opened a treasure casket
While flashing a golden sword
A round piece of jade
Carved with the dragon designs
And there were the lines of words
Flashed the dazzling light
An old man with gray hair
Rode a kylin
Which flew leisurely in the sky
Carried a sword on his back
A huge sun
With a golden palace in the central of it,
revealed a young Prince
Reading the golden books in the palace
A huge mirror
Flashed in front of my eyes
A bolt of lightening
Awakened me in my dreams
I went back to the palace again
The magical old man
Still held the golden staff
And stood in front of my eyes
The golden books, ah!
Still shining on the walls
But the words of gold, ah!
Singing exactly in my chest
The huge golden statue, ah!
Flashed the dazzling light
The holy old man, ah!
The kindly smile appeared on his face
The layers of purple-gold flames, ah!
Surround me all around
The stars with much light, ah!
Shining in my body
I saw a huge golden crown
That few out of the old man’s hand
And turned into a sun ah!
Which embedded in my forehead
Suddenly a flash of lightning, ah!
Went into my eyes
I saw a gold pagoda, ah!
Shining in the sky
A golden giant
Stood with smiles in front of the pagoda
A gold garden
Embraced the golden pagoda
The holy giant
Took me out of the palace
A white crane was called in
And flew to the sky with me
It was like a white light ah!
I came to the pagoda in the twinkling of an eye
The huge pagoda of gold, ah!
Was higher than the mountains on earth
It was more than ninety thousand floors
The height of each floor was ten thousand meters
It was like a universe
Containing the countless worlds
The countless suns, ah!
Shining on the floors of pagoda
The multicoloured stars, ah!
Constituted these wonderful designs
The countless dragons, ah!
Flying around the huge pagoda
The lines of wods of the stars
Shining in the transparent walls of gold
The golden giant, ah!
Wore the diamond armor
Smiled at me briefly
And opened the door of the pagoda for me
On the huge door carved with gold
Mysterious patterns were convex and concave
Like the countless stars, ah!
Spinning in the golden space
A golden palace, ah!
Were full of wonderful giant flowers;
The huge gold tripods
Burned in the raging flames
The giants were sitting
On the purple-gold pavilions
They smild at me joyfully
Like the long time parting families
The golden winding stairs
Coiled round the columns of the palace
Like the huge golden dragons
Flying into the sky with their head held high
I saw a huge ball
Which was in the middle of the palace
Like a clear and transparent crystal
Rotating the golden pictures
There seemed to be countless worlds
Fashing leisurely in the crystal
The golden paradises
Made my eyes drunken
The wonderful bells
Suddenly sounded in my ears
The giants that were sitting
Sang the thundering songs
The songs were like the golden lightning
Shining in my body from all quarters
My heart was empty suddenly
And saw the things of billions of years ago
Originally I myself builted
The huge pagoda of gold
The lines of stars on the golden wall
Just were the poems that I had written
The smiling giants ah!
All of them were my former partner
The huge crystal balls ah!
Were a golden universe
The golden pagoda with more than ninety thousand floors, ah!
Contain the countless the times and spaces
Like a golden staircase of time ah!
Linking up with the countless heavens
Into the stars that had been turned by time ah!
It’s the sacred words
Each of the golden poems
Created a paradise
The huge golden tripods ah!
Burning the flame of time
Smelted out the countless stars
Forming the universes
The countless giants were sitting
On the transparent pagoda of gold
The light of their songs
Turned into the rounds of sun
I saw the crystal sky, ah!
Rotating outside the golden pagoda
There seemed to be countless golden pagoda
Shining in the sky
I seemed not to exist
And turned into the boundless light
The countless huge pagodas of gold
were just in my luminous chest
The countless giants who were sitting up
Smiled at me on the golden pagoda;
Their dazzling smils, ah!
Flashed the golden eternity
3.22.1998
###
Hongri Yuan, born in China in 1962, is a poet and philosopher interested particularly in creation. Representative works include Platinum City, The City of Gold, Golden Paradise , Gold Sun and Golden Giant. His poetry has been published in the UK, USA ,India ,New Zealand, Canada and Nigeria.