Rumishi: Over the years...

[English to Chinese] Rumi four sonnets

(i)

Years

I always imitate others,

Try to understand yourself.

From the bottom of my heart,

I can't decide what to do.

I can't see the front,

But when I hear someone call me by my name,

Then I decided to go out.

For years, copying other people, I tried to know myself.

From within, I couldn’t decide what to do.

Unable to see, I heard my name being called.

Then I walked outside.

(ii)

Accept a man who doesn't care about scoring,

He neither expects to become rich nor fears of loss,

Not even interested in any interest,

In his personality: he is free.

Take someone who doesn’t keep score,

who’s not looking to be richer, or afraid of losing,

who has not the slightest interest even

is his own personality: he’s free.

(iii)

Who said that the soul of the exiled centuries would disappear?

How dare he say that he wanted the sun to die?

Enemy of the Sun,

Standing on his dome,

He closed his eyes and shouted:

Voila, the sun is setting!

Who was he that said

The immortal spirit is dead,

Or how dared he say

Hope’s sun hath passed away?

An enemy of the sun,

Standing his roof upon,

Bound up both his eyes

And cried: ‘Lo, the sun dies!’

(iv)

The Knight of Heaven passes by on horseback,

Make the dust fly in the air;

The knight galloped and whipped up the dust,

So far the soil is firmly entrenched in this.

You go straight forward with a beautiful view,

and gaze into the night without leaving,

His flesh was reduced to dust,

Eternal and vast in infinity.

The heavenly rider passed;

The dust rose in the air;

He sped; but the dust he cast

Yet hangeth there.

Straight forward thy vision be,

And gaze not left or night;

His dust is here, and he

In the Infinite.

Statement of Original Translation (Roxana Translation). The article was originally edited and published by Penguin "Silk Road Literature and Tourism", and synchronized with WeChat public accounts, today's headlines, Zhihu, Jianshu, Meibi, Douban, Weibo and other platforms.