Green Head Ducks "Theme of the Great Wall"

何威廉

Green Head Ducks

Theme of the Great Wall

By William He

Somewhere in time,

A different scene belonging to a different world.

The Ouroboros writhing,

A solitude of darkness or of light,

Delusive hope leads pale twilight to her dusky eyes.

When the moon is loud,

She enters the the earth-lipped fissure,

Where the living sleep, scattered like dead leaves.

People are wrapped in old centuries,

On the dusty shore of a dried-up river,

The steep old wooden steps slick with neon green.

Grass shoots in the forest,

The ancient hollow blocks sprawled,

Signal fire turrets are going into blur.

Maple's inarticulate ardors,

Meditation loves to dwell somewhere,

Time will dry all wantonness with it.

The flash-back fires rise up,

Across the sulphur-colored bulwarks,

Scarlet stars a thousand leagues athwart the heaven.

Over the impregnable pass,

Thunders fall heavily into a stark shadows,

Into the blue and burning lands with leaden grey.

On irised wings to worlds unknown,

And slowly drifting downward again,

A whirling meteor to fume to ashes after an abrupt drop.

Breezy rocky pinnacle,

Serpent cutting the outer crust margin,

Laying out in splendour in the nature space.

In smouldering eyeballs,

The Great Wall pines weave together,

Butterfly Effect beneath historic skies.        

多丽

长城幻想曲

作者：何威廉

流光晃，

塞垣一角生犀。

眩鳞蛇、

心波涨落，

两弯似蹙缠眉。

碾时空、

紫岩黑洞，

百千留壁夜含啼。

前日边缘，

涧沟泉竭，

石莲晶滢化成霓。

薄纱草、

沿墙砖线，

举燧野台迷。

青枫拂、

玄冥朔土，

迟慢时机。

漫烧天、

榆关地脉，

太阳真火偏西。

雁门垂、

忽雷掣断，

铸成青石倒缨盔。

断尾流星，

红绡轻电，

三边直下变寒灰。

八达岭、

驰腾表里，

飞练接天墀。

穿墙眼、

崖前柏变，

蝴蝶低徊。

Notes:

“The Great Wall”: A barrier fortification in northern China running west-to-east 13,171 miles (21,196 km) from the Jiayuguan Pass (in the west) to the Hushan Mountains in Liaoning Province in the east, ending at the Bohai Gulf. It crosses eleven provinces/municipalities and two autonomous regions.

“Ouroboros”: An ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The ouroboros entered Western tradition via ancient Egyptian iconography and the Greek magical tradition.The ouroboros is often interpreted as a symbol for eternal cyclic renewal or a cycle of life, death, and rebirth. The skin-sloughing process of snakes symbolizes the transmigration of souls.

“Bulwarks”: Shanhai Pass or Shanhaiguan is one of the major passes in the Great Wall of China, being the easternmost stronghold along the Ming Great Wall, and commands the narrowest choke point in the Liaoxi Corridor. It is located in Shanhaiguan District, Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, on the east bank of the Shi River between the Yan Mountains and the Liaodong Bay coast.

“Impregnable pass”: Yanmen Pass, also known by its Chinese name Yanmenguan and as Xixingguan, is a mountain pass which includes three fortified gatehouses along the Great Wall of China. The area was a strategic choke point in ancient and medieval China, controlling access between the valleys of central Shanxi and the Eurasian Steppe. This made it the scene of various important battles, extending into World War II.

“Rocky pinnacle”: Badaling, the site of the most visited section of the Great Wall of China, approximately 80 kilometers northwest of Beijing's city center, in Yanqing District. The portion of the wall running through the site was built in 1504 during the Ming Dynasty, along with a military outpost reflecting the location's strategic importance.

“Butterfly Effect”: The Butterfly Effect (2004). Directed by Eric Bress, J. Mackye Gruber. Evan Treborn suffers blackouts during significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life by reading his journal.

何威廉

Over the impregnable pass,
Thunders fall heavily into a stark shadows,
Into the blue and burning lands with leaden grey ......