Nazarii Nazarov was born in 1990 in a small village on the Ukrainian steppe. He now lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine, where he teaches Ukrainian and Russian and studies the poetic traditions of Eurasia. He holds a PhD in Slavic Studies. His English poems have appeared in Alluvium (Literary Shanghai), Eratio, and Eunoia, and are forthcoming elsewhere.
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On reading a translation from the Chinese classics by V. Alekseev (1881-1951) – who is known for his careful rendering of the original rhythm and flow along with his loyalty to the original text – I was startled by а seemingly simple phrase from Li Bo’s Preface to the Feast in the Peach and Plum Garden on a Spring Night, which is repeated in the following verses as a refrain.
Paraphrasing Li Bo
Oh old pine tree
with curved trunk
and bent branches
you know my desire
and my purpose
but tell me
what is the sky above you?
the earth beneath you?
On a hot day
hidden among the reeds and bushes
I shared my food and drink
with naked drunkards and vagrants
and none of them knew
what is the sky above us
and the earth beneath us
In the shade of the old pine tree
I meet the third summer
crossing the bay
on a quivering boat
on my solitary walks
I began to ponder:
when I die
what will go to the sky above me?
and what to the earth beneath me?
Oh old pine tree