1 Poem by Xin Di

Scenes

Just a train stuck into the ribs of China

Whose social problems follow one after another

In succession are huts and graves in the fields

At its terminal point life yields

The green land in summer nature does hold

But soldiers’ uniforms are yellow and old

All the places I’ve passed on my way

They are not so strange but very gray

Thin oxen and thinner men

Are not scenes but ailments, then!

About the author:

Xin Di (1912—2004), originally named Wang Xindi, was born in Tianjin, his ancestral homeland Huaian City, Jiangsu Province. In 1935, he graduated from Foreign Languages Department, Qinghua University. In 1936, he went to study in Britain. In 1939, he went back to China, and taught in Jinan University and Guanghua University. In 1948, he participated in the editing work of the journal New Chinese Poetry. After 1949, he worked long in the industrial department. he was one of the members of “Nine Leaves School”. His major works include A Collection of Palm, Poem Drafts of Xin Di, A Collection of Nine Leaves(in collaboration with others), Impressions and Bloom-Bunches (collections of poems). He was the editor-in-chief of A Dictionary of the Appreciation of New Poems in Modern China.

                                                          (Tr. by Yang Xu)

辛笛

风景

列车扎在中国的肋骨上

一节接着一节社会问题

比邻而居的是茅屋和田野间的坟

生活距离终点这样近

夏天的土地绿得丰饶自然

兵士的新装黄得旧褪凄惨

惯爱想一路来行过的地方

说不出生疏却是一般的黯淡

瘦的耕牛和更瘦的人

都是病, 不是风景

作者简介；

辛笛（1912—2004），本名王馨迪，祖籍江苏淮安，生于天津。1935年毕业于清华大学外文系。1936年赴英国留学。1939年回国，任教于暨南大学、光华大学。1948年参与《中国新诗》杂志编辑工作。1949年后长期在工业部门供职。系“九叶派”成员之一。主要作品有：诗集《手掌集》、《辛笛诗稿》、《九叶集》（与人合集）、《印象·花束》等。主编《中国现代新诗鉴赏辞典》。