Borrowed scrupulously from Yang Shen's prologue to 'The Romance of the Three Kingdoms' (written during the Ming dynasty) and moved the setting from the Yangzi to the Rhine... I'm almost ashamed to base such a mediocre poem on such a great work, yet I felt I should mention it.
On and on the mighty Rhine flows.
How many knights drowned in its waves?
One empire dies, a new one grows
The vanity of thousand graves
Only the hills will always stand
Only the setting sun saw all
Many kings ruled over the land
In the end every one must fall
In the green fields the songs resound
Tell of heroes in days forgone
Who now lay to rest under the ground
But their deeds cannot be undone
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Written by audrie (451 comments posted) 6th December 2007 |
'One empire grows, another one dies'.
So true.
When you think of the Chinese dynasties, The Mayans, the Greeks, The Romans, etc., all came and went. What is it, I wonder, that makes this happen?
Is it that each empire sinks into depravity and greed? We know that absolute power corrupts absolutely, is it this?
Does anybody have the answers? Good debating point, Fledermaus. |
Written by Fledermaus (3281 comments posted) 6th December 2007 |
Thanks Audrie.
I'm currently reading "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in my spare time, which relates of the rather bloody fall of the Han dynasty. That's where the inspiration for this poem came from. Along the Yangzi dynasties succeeded each other, along the Rhine different kingdoms rose to power. I would have preferred to make a comparison between the Han dynasty and the Roman Empire, but the Tiber isn't exactly an impressive river.
I think the cycle is always the same: An empire grows and conquers until it seems to have conquered all there is to conquer, making it seemingly invincible. Then the people get lazy and decadent and they seem to forget how much effort it took to become so powerful. |
Too true
Written by Josie (2785 comments posted) 6th December 2007 |
| It is the same with dynasties and with ordinary everyday life. When the next generation takes over, everything changes - and not always for the better. I agree that life is very much like a flowing stream. To me, though, life is very much like being on an escalator. People get on at one stop and off at another and the escalator keeps going. A similar analogy Fledermaus. You have put it well. |
Written by Fledermaus (3281 comments posted) 6th December 2007 |
| Thanks Josie. Well, that's what I meant with scrupulously borrowed: That analogy was written down by this guy in China more than 400 years ago. I could put that poem here, but my Chinese isn't good enough to translate it myself and the translations I found online are all very different. |
Hi Fledrmaus
Written by maipenrai (783 comments posted) 6th December 2007 |
| liked this a great deal. |
Written by Fledermaus (3281 comments posted) 6th December 2007 |
| Thanks Bernie |
Written by Phil (6713 comments posted) 6th December 2007 |
It might be borrowed, but it still expresses the ideas clearly.
Phil |
Written by Fledermaus (3281 comments posted) 6th December 2007 |
| Thanks Phil. I'm just a bit concerned as to how much one can borrow before it becomes stealing. I even took the hills and the sun from the original poem... |
Written by seaJane (23 comments posted) 6th December 2007 |
I even took the hills and the sun from the original poem...
And they're still in the real world - despite the original poem having taken them from there ... I don't think you'll be in trouble, Creation's not copyrighted
"days forgone" to me means "days given up" than " days past" - not sure if you have the right word there? |
Written by Fledermaus (3281 comments posted) 7th December 2007 |
Thanks Jane,
What I mainly meant is that I may have borrowed a little too much from that poem. Yet on the other hand, I could hardly read it, so it could be totally different :P
'bygone' would have been better than 'foregone' ? |
Hi Fledermaus
Written by jean.day (2279 comments posted) 8th December 2007 |
Yes, I do think bygone would have suited it slightly better.
You seem to be able to make a poem out of anything and everything.
Good one. |
Written by Fledermaus (3281 comments posted) 9th December 2007 |
Thanks Jean  |
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