To Borneo, To Mount Gold

To Borneo, To Mount Gold

     --Translated from Luo Fangbo《游金山赋》

 

How I longed to be there as tales were told

About the legendary resort of Mount Gold

An untraversed wilderness ever to be

Somewhere down the South China Sea

 

Never a mountain would move my way

Until autumn of 1772 marked the day

When I set out of the Harbor Tiger gate

With men of a hundred and a first mate

 

Eastward first then to the main,spirits high

With a will to break the limit of the sky

Yet before long, as if floating in clouds of vanity

Groundless,near or far,I saw nothing but infinity

An odyssey covering ten thousand mile

Might be related later just in a while

 

On Swirling into a river from the ocean vast

Our boatmen cried out,”Here we are,at last!”

Here it is, long dams line a red river abound

Emerald forests beyond,as if Elysium found

The moon rises soon after the sun escapes

No flute of hermits but the babel of apes

At the end of trail springs Naiad trickling trickling

The darkness of night broken by roosters cackling

 

In Pontianak it’s steam summer all year round

Vegetables perennially green, and gold abound

Out in the mountains and in Kapuas river bed

Providence for the tough with heart and head

 

In this exotic land they have a different name

For a thing familiar at home all the same

Apa capa to greet, and kue for a cake

Salio for cottage, and bali for gold lake

For gold grains you have to rise at small hours

And shed sweat all day long like heavy showers

Youlang dangling abreast for the days’s gain

Guats threshing under water, oh! The back pain

Fortune might come to you and smile

And you find your labor worth the while

 

A scholar I am not much of a master of the art

Teaching in a strange land, a waste of my prime

To engage in business I lack the capital to start

Who won’t want to make fortune and fame in time

And return home ten thousand miles away

Where my old parents await weary and gray

Who won’t expect to build a mansion grand

And hence enjoy happy days in his homeland

 

Alas! Astrand here toiling day in and day out

My health failing, and my spirit falling out

Fortune and fame is not all I seek

Poetry may I indulge at this peak

Who is by birth made a king of a kingdom

Why should I exile myself in a state of freedom

Hence a song from out of my heart

Zero to hero, hero to zero, the Art:

On this peak of peaks, atop of the world

With clouds swirling and rivers down unfurled

Such sublime of beauty inspires tears of pain

That time and tide should thus go on in vain

 

 

 

 

 

《游金山赋》

罗芳伯

 

 

蓋聞金山之勝地，時懷仰止之私衷。

地雖屬蠻夷之域，界仍居南海之中。

嵗值壬辰，節界應鍾。

登舟自虎門而出，南征之馬首是東。

攜手偕行，親朋百眾;

同舟共濟，色相皆空。

予自忖曰：自从虎门而出，定达乎龙宫。

无何，远望长天，觉宇宙之无尽；

下临无底，想云麓之可通。

真如一叶轻飘，飞来万里；

好借孤帆迳达，乘此长风。

时则从小港而入，舟人曰：金山至矣！

但见满江红水，一带长堤；

林深树密，渚浅波微。

恍惚桃园仙洞，翻疑柳宅山居。

两岸迷离，千仞岚光接翠；

孤峰挺秀，四周山色齐辉。

几树斜阳，一溪秋水。

兔魄初升，猿声四起。

不闻牧笛樵歌，哪有高人逸士？

山穷水尽，潺潺之泉韵关心；

柳暗花明，喔喔之鸡声盈耳。

 

若夫地当热带，日气熏蒸。

草木曾无春夏，人事自有旧新。

黄金地产，宝藏山兴。

欲求此中生活，须从苦里经营。

虽云人力之当尽，实为造化之生成。

至于名物称呼各异，唐番应答攸殊。

沙寮依然茅屋，巴里原是金湖。

或岩或山，上下设施一体；

是担是荷，往来实繁有徒。

嗟嗟！早夜披星，满眼之星霜几易；

晨昏沐浴，周身之雨汗交流。

由郎荡漾与怀中，乍分还合

刮子婆娑于水底，欲去仍留

幸黄金之获益，羡白镪之盈收。

予也材本鸠拙，志切莺迁。

辛耕凭舌，砚苦为田。

匮乏经商资本，惭非宿学高贤。

假馆他邦，固既虚延岁月：

奔驰道左，还期稛载凯旋。

俾士作商，不惮萍踪万里；

家贫亲老，常怀客路三千。

因而水绕白云，时盼望于风晨月夕；

倘得堂开画锦，庆悠游于化日光天。

噫嘻！蛮烟瘴雨，损体劳形。

岂无志于定远，又何乐乎少卿？

远适他乡，原效陶朱之致富；

登高作赋，实怀骚客之怡情。

乃作歌曰：

巍 巍 独 立 万 山 巅

云 水 苍 茫 自 饶 璇

如 此 好 山 如 此 水

蹉 跎 岁 月 亦 潸 然