POEM TRANSLATION ECHOES 499 WITH NOTES
FREEDOM FOR GLITTERING GOLD
（闪光金子的自由）
drove down a dirt road
驶过一土路
narrow, winding and thrill of
狭窄曲折而激动
spectacular sight
壮观的景象
pearls glitter in sun
光下珍珠闪
awesome Adriatic Sea
敬畏亚得里亚海
around walled bastions
围墙绕堡垒
shelled for seven months
炮击七个月
siege, survive empire throne games
攻、帝皇生存游戏
since medieval
自从中世纪
walk high city walls
走上高城墙
war miseries on limestone
战争难在石灰石
street, over- priced climb
街、高价攀登
Note:
It is believed that people treasured freedom more than gold; or rather, after the gold, they yearn for freedom, taking the other for granted. We miss what we lack, and ignore what we hold. It would be vain for me to answer for the people in Dubrovnik and the Balkans, the Catalonians in Spain, the Hong Kongers in China, and even the Malays in Malaysia. The more they demand for dignity, the lesser they have. Eventually, we destroy what we have in hand, and begin our walk on high city walls on limestone path, and boast about past history of grandeur, claims of long ancestry. I have read that we all human beings started from the savanna or jungle of Africa, and we drift across continents and oceans, changing our skin colour with the sun or diet.
The common usage that “all that glitters is not gold” may not be necessarily right. The stunning Adriatic Seas glitters like pearl in the Mediterranean during summer, with abundant tourism gold, The Pearl of the Orient, destroys their pot of gold with their destruct. The Golden Chersonese shines with its tin and other metals, rather than gold, and their luster has gone. We have a shared history.
wonkywizard 