So Far Yet So Close
By Huaiyu
Israel Jewish Life, December 1, 2006
Despite its many unwanted side effects, modern technology has brought us much convenience that merely existed in a poet’s imagination hundreds of years ago. Wang Bo, a Chinese poet from the Tang Dynasty (647–675 AD), wished in a poem that the distance separating friends would be insignificant so that “even two friends living in opposite corners of the world could always be like neighbors.”
If Wang Bo lived to this day, he would probably be an ardent user of BBS (bulletin board service) on the internet, where he could not only discuss his poetry, or the weather, with his old friends as neighbors, but also meet new friends from every corner of the world, who might praise, criticize, or even collaborate with him on every single poem he posted.
After the publication of my short story “The Wailing Wall” in China Press, I posted the story in a Chinese literary BBS. The story is narrated from the perspective of a young Chinese woman who has grown cynical about love. She goes to Jerusalem with her much older but well-to-do Jewish husband, and, at the Wailing Wall, she encounters a young Palestinian woman who has fallen in love with an Israeli soldier. By placing the story on the BBS, I hoped that more Chinese readers would know about the Wailing Wall and Israel.
Having read my story, Jiazhen Li, a Chinese poet who lives in Minnesota, with whom I have exchanged opinions about writing but never met in person, wrote a poem that touched my heart. I have translated the poem below to share with my English readers:
The Wailing Wall
—A poem by Jiazhen Li, based on Huaiyu’s short story “The Wailing Wall”
One hundred years of blessing
Cannot dry the tears
That are still so clear
Prayers converge
Into an eternal common wish
I walk towards you, step by step
To listen to the stories
Arising from the weeds
The duplication of history
Eyes are closed,
Withered by yesterday’s hatred
Yet today’s new growth it cannot wilt
So, some demises have brought sympathy
And some, eulogies
On that fallen wall
I have placed the wish
Higher than history
Higher than gunpowder smoke
Higher, even than the love
That has never been polluted
Songs are sung
Towards the yearning of the sky
And lies have reddened, with life,
The rising sun
Sincerity is buried once and again
Every narration testifies
In all languages
Transcending the wall
That cannot be transcended
I stand there with no emotion
Till an unexpected encounter
A beauty that has remained
And blossoms of the age-old hope
When I give you my hand
I also give you my destiny
And an arduous dawn
A few days later, another poet and musician, Quan Xiao, who lives in China and with whom I have never even corresponded on the BBS before, posted a song he composed on the same subject. The song’s lyrics are translated below:
Tears of Jerusalem
—a song by QuanXiao, based on Helen Liu’s short story “The Wailing Wall”
The weeds have quietly stationed there for thousands of years
The tear marks are still visible on the ruins of the wall
People insert little wishes into the wall crevices
And pray piously time after time
Over the wall it is my familiar home
I have unloaded hate for the sake of love
I harbor no grudge for I have known bitterness
In this disturbed mundane world, how my heart grieves
The angels come
Taking me across the ancient desert
Shielding me from gunpowder smoke with a scarf
Is the cooling oasis polluted?
Can we live together like the wave and the rock,
Facing each other under the same blue sky?
The sun is setting to the west
The evening clouds smeared by blood
How far are we away from peace after the dark night?
With their poem and song, Jiazhen and Quan have given me the highest compliment a fiction writer can ever hope for. Compared with the Tang Dynasty poet Wang Bo, I consider myself truly fortunate to be able to share my writings with old and new friends living in far-away places, without feeling the separation created by physical distance.
(Links to Jiazhen and Quan's original works:
http://www.e-literati.com/bbs/leadbbs/Announce/Announce.asp?BoardID=107&ID=122269
http://www.e-literati.com/bbs/leadbbs/Announce/announce.asp?BoardID=106&ID=122817&Ar=122998&AUpflag=1&Ap=1&Aq=1
)
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