Thursday, June 4, 2009

In Memoriam: 4 June 1989

The following is a poem translated from the Chinese and published in June Fourth Movement Twentieth Anniversary Memorial Booklet (edited by Brian Hansen & Jiang Pinchao, translated by Teresa Zimmerman-Liu). The Chinese original is found in the book June Fourth Poems, edited by Jiang Pinchao. It was written on June 6, 1989, by students who had escaped from Tiananmen Square on the night of June 4, 1989.
Elegy

By Lian Yang & Cheng Gu


You are dead, but a short time ago you
walked on the plaza under blue sky and
mothers pushing strollers called out to you,
saying how tall you had grown. You were watching
kites floating and dancing in the spring sky.
You are dead, but not long ago, we said
“Let’s go to the plaza to speak,” and with many others
we went to the woods beside the subway.
Not long ago, we shared a bowl of soup
and made instant noodles that we ate slowly.
Then in the rain, holding umbrellas and lanterns,
we went from tent to tent
but now you are dead.

The spotlight illuminated us suddenly,
pinning you to the brick pavement.
Your legs were broken, you crawled,
screaming as you were crushed beneath the steel tank treads.
I cannot forget the instant the guns sounded,
you looked up in surprise and your clapping hands
covered your chest as you all spurted blood.
You had been sitting on the ground
when they began firing guns at your faces.
Then the tanks rolled over your bodies and
your brains were splattered on the ground.
Bullets chased you, death-carts and helicopters chased you,
gasoline spurting flame-throwers chased you.
Your skin turned black and split open as it burned,
the wounded and the dead were burned together.
You are dead, and I cannot forget.

You were just a little younger than I,
you laughed like little children, I cannot forget you.
They killed you without warning,
just because you stood beside the road.
You saw the smoking gun muzzles, so your eyes became criminal.
You said, “Don’t kill anyone,” so your mouths became criminal.
You came out of your houses
to save bleeding persons, so your deeds became criminal.
Volley after volley of bullets
pounded your bodies into bloody masses.
The murderers kept shouting and shooting,
They fired on old people, who protected you in the streets.
They killed you, and they want to kill your classmates, siblings, and parents--
everyone who knew and loved you.
They want to kill all memories so
they cover your bodies with stinking lies.
They are corpse-eating maggots.
They thought by turning you into smoke
and washing away the blood, you would be gone forever,
forever unable to open your mouths,
unable to speak the terrible wrongs you suffered.
With you dead, they can say, “We are victorious.”
They think people can be exterminated, slaughtered,
they think death can hide their life of crime.
We are living and we stand beside you.
They might kill us too, but they do not know
that we already died in our homes in China
the moment the guns sounded on the plaza.
We give our hearts to you, the dead,
so you can live again in us.
We want to lift our hands as you did
to complete your unaccomplished mission
Blood for blood, fire for fire.

June 6, 1989

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

D. T.,

Powerful.

Thanks for posting this.

T.,
C.

Teresa said...

This is my favorite poem of the lot in that booklet. I felt it fitting in light of the current attitude of denial.

Anonymous said...

Very moving. I am in tears.

murat11 said...

Quite powerful indeed.

My favorite lines:

You saw the smoking gun muzzles, so your eyes became criminal.
You said, “Don’t kill anyone,” so your mouths became criminal.
You came out of your houses
to save bleeding persons, so your deeds became criminal.


May their deeds continue to be seeds for China's future. And the future of all of us.

Teresa said...

I second your hopes, Murat.

I personally like the last few lines of the poem:

We give our hearts to you, the dead,
so you can live again in us.
We want to lift our hands as you did
to complete your unaccomplished mission
Blood for blood, fire for fire.

murat11 said...

Absolutely. I like the exchange.

Teresa said...

Here is the original Chinese for those who are interested.

悼词

杨炼、顾诚

你们死了,好像不久以前,还有那片
有蓝天的广场,母亲推著车子
大声地叫你,你已经那麽高了
还在看春天飘舞的风筝
你们死了,不久前我们还说
到广场去说我们的话,和许多人
一起走向地铁旁边的树林
不久前,我们还分一盆汤
泡方便面,慢慢地喝
在雨里边,举著伞,举著灯
从一座座小帐篷间穿过
然而,这时你们死了
突然亮起的光,把你钉在方砖地上
你的腿断了,你爬,喊
被钢铁的履带压得稀烂
我们不能忘记枪响的刹那
你吃惊得看著,那些鼓掌的手
捂住突然喷血的胸口
你们整齐的坐在地上
而他们整齐的对著你们的脸开枪
装甲车从你们的身上压过去
到处是你们的脑浆
子弹追赶你,运死人的车追赶你
直升飞机、汽油和火焰喷射器追赶你
你的皮肤发黑,焦裂
受伤的人和死者一起被烧掉
你们死了,我们不能忘记
你只比我们年轻一点
走起路来头抬得更高些
会像孩子那样笑,我们不能忘记
他们把你逼近墙脚,只是为了
问也不问地杀你,只是因为你站在路边
看见冒烟的枪口,你的眼睛就成了“罪恶”
只是因为你不愿沉默
你说不要杀人,你的声音就成了“罪恶”
只是因为你从家里出来
救一个流血的人, 你的生命就成了“罪恶”
枪一阵阵响著
把你们的身体捣成一团团血肉
你们死了,广场死了
刽子手得嘴和枪还在响著
他们杀了你,还要杀你所有的同学、兄弟、姊妹、你的父母
他们在路上,向保护你的老人开枪
在学校,在实验室门口
他们要杀所有知道你的人,爱你的人
他们要杀所有的记忆
他们把腥臭的谎言泼在你们身上
他们是一群吃死人的蛆虫
他们说现在胜利了,他们以为把你变成烟
把血冲走,你们就永远没了
你们就永远无法开口
永远无法说出可怕的冤屈
你们死了他们就可以安享罪恶的生活
他们以为人是这样的,可以被杀光,杀死
他们以为死能保护他们罪恶的生活
我们活著,站在你们面前
他们也会杀死我们,他们不知道
我们已经死过,在枪响的刹那
在广场上,在我们的中国家里
我们把心交给你,交给死者
为了使让你们在我们身上复活
我们要像你们那样举起手
完成你们未完成的使命
给血以血,给火以火
一九八九年六月六日

Anonymous said...

You may not believe from mainland somewhere ~! A young person need to use translation software to read your article ~! As he wanted to know that year business ~! Even with him an aged man 98% don't know that year happen ~! He as your help to understand him should understand business ~! No matter how view facing ~! He has the right to know ~! Ask your help ~! All the information ~! Numbers, words, images or video, or the person of experience views ~! E-mail yoyotty@126.com

Anonymous said...

it is pinchao jiang, teresa's friend, edited with teresa and other friends.
i was one of those students. thank you for remmebering that affair in 1989. i can give you some pictures.