Tina Zhu
on translating Xi Murong
In translating Xi Murong’s most famous poem, my aim was to maintain the naturalness of the diction in the original without diminishing its sense of spirituality and emotion. In addition to deciding not to capitalize lines or add in more punctuation, I also kept the occasional extra spaces in the original, which I felt created more natural pauses without disrupting the flow of the poem. I wanted to capture the quiet desperation beneath her religious language and gorgeous imagery without veering into melodrama. It was a difficult balancing act, especially in the final two lines, where the speaker exclaims (or maybe sighs?) directly to the addressee with such vulnerability.
about the author
Born in 1943, Xi Murong (席慕容) is a well-known Chinese poet and painter who comes from inner Mongolia and has ties to Taiwan. She is most famous for her poetry collections Seven-li Scent and Unregrettable Youth. Her style is subtle yet uninhibited, profound yet unpretentious, and deeply moving. Her work is influenced by ancient Eastern philosophy, and it often contains religious undercurrents that evoke the impermanence of human existence.
about the translator
Tina Zhu is a senior at Swarthmore College studying cognitive and computer science. She grew up in Churchville, Pennsylvania, and Shanghai, China. She plays badminton, though not well, writes poetry and translations, and enjoys Girl Scout cookies and The Office.
photo by Natalia Pleśniak
