Swimming

I have just drunk the waters of Changsha
And come to eat the fish of Wuchang.
Now I am swimming across the great Yangtze,
Looking afar to the open sky of Chu.
Let the wind blow and waves beat,
Better far than idly strolling in courtyard.
Today I am at ease.
It was by a stream that the Master said --
"Thus do things flow away!"

Sails move with the wind.
Tortoise and Snake are still.
Great plans are afoot:
A bridge will fly to span the north and south,
Turning a deep chasm¹ into a thoroughfare;
Walls of stones will stand upstream to the west
To hold back Wushan's clouds and rain
Till a smooth lake rises in the narrow gorges².
The mountain goddess if she is still there
Will marvel³ at a world so changed.

游泳
一九五六年六月

才饮长沙水，
又食武昌鱼。
万里长江横渡，
极目楚天舒。
不管风吹浪打，
胜似闲庭信步。
今日得宽馀，
子在川上曰：
逝者如斯夫！

风樯动，
龟蛇静，
起宏图。
一桥飞架南北，
天堑变通途。
更立西江石璧，
截断巫山云雨，
高峡出平湖。
神女应无恙，
当惊世界殊。