Wild Grass 野草


































W hen I was silent, I feel replete;

                                        as I open my mouth to speak, I am conscious of emptiness.









































































The past life has died .
            I  exult over its DEATH,
                            because from this I know that it once exists .

      The dead life has decayed .
                   I  exult over its DECAY,
                                   becuase from this I know that it has not been empty .








From the clay of life abandoned on the ground from no lofty trees, only wild grass. For that I am to blame.

















































WILD GRASS strikes no deep roots, has no beautiful flowers and leaves, yet it imbibes dew, water, and the blood and flesh of the dead, although all try to rob it of life. As long as it lives it is trampled upon and mown down, until it dies and decays.


But I am not worried; I am glad.
I shall laugh aloud and sing.

I love my WILD GRASS, but I detest the ground which decks itself with WILD GRASS.

A subterranean fire is spreading, raging, underground. Once the molten lava breaks through the earth's crust, it will consume all the WILD GRASS and lofty trees, leaving nothing to decay.

But I am not worried; I am glad.
I shall laugh aloud and sing.

















































Heaven and earth are so serene that I cannot laugh aloud or sing. Even if they were not so serene, I probably could not either.

















































Between light and dark and, life and death and, past and future 过去 and 未来, I dedicated this tussock of wild grass as my pledge to friend and foe and , man and beast and and , those whom I love and those whom I do not love 爱者 and 不爱者.


For my own sake and for the sake of friend and foe and , man and beast and and , those whom I love and those whom I do not love 爱者 and 不爱者, I hope for the swift death and decay of this wild grass. Otherwise, it means I have not lived, and this would be truly more lamentable than death and decay.

















































Go, then, wild grass, together with my foreword .





































Lu Xun

Written in White Cloud Pavilion, KwangChow
April 26, 1927