吉鸿昌·《就义诗》英译

就义诗

吉鸿昌

恨不抗日死，留作今日羞。

国破尚如此，我何惜此头。

Facing Martyrdom

Ji Hongchang*

What chagrin! – not on the field to be

(Fighting the Japs) found dead!

But survived to suffer this present infamy!

While e’en my country is dismembered so,

What care I it is me they behead?

* Ji Hongchang (1895-1933), a general from Henan Province who joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1932 and was arrested and later executed in 1933 by the Kuomintang. This poem was written on the ground with a twig, on his way to execution. It was copied down by his brother-in-law.

（王知还 译）

Lines Written Before Execution*

Ji Hongchang (1895-1933)

Would I could have given my life resisting Japan,

instead of being kept alive to suffer this disgrace.

With once country smashed and in this sorry state

Why should I begrudge her my head too?

1933

* General Ji wrote this poem with a twig in the dust on the execution ground before he met death at the hands of the Kuomintang.

（Rewi Alley 译）