春将至， 晴天气， 消闲坐看儿童戏。 借天风， 鼓其中， 结彩为绳， 截竹为筒。 空！空！
人间事， 观愚智， 大都制器存深意。 理无穷， 事无终， 实则能鸣， 虚则能容。 冲！冲！
Xi fen chai: Watching the Children Play with a
Kongzhong1
Barrel-Twirl Gu
Taiqing
Spring’s
nearly here. Sunny-sky
weather… Sitting
idly by, I watch the children at play. Borrowing
high winds. To
drum up inside . . . Knotting
colored yarn as string. Sawing
up bamboo for the barrel. Kong
Kong.
Here
in humans’ realm. Observe
fool and sage. Nearly
all make vessels to contain a deep intent. Nature’s
laws endless. Matters
without cease. What’s
full can make sound. What’s
empty can receive. Chong
Chong.2
1.
The kongzhong is a child’s noise-making toy of hollow bamboo manipulated by a
string. The instrument’s name suggests the void (kong), a notion on which Gu plays here in Daoistic mode. 2.
The word chong used here invokes chapter 5 of the Dao De Jing, which may be an onomatopoeia, but its lexical meanings
include “a whirling sound; a dashing movement through air; limpid/placid.”
（David McCraw 译） |
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