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Sand of Silk – In Reply to Mr. Liu Yazi (Two Versions) [Mao’s Poems]
Version 1 (Oct 1950 – National Day) Long night shrouded China’s dark, unbroken sky;A century of fiends ran wild, passed by.Five hundred million people torn, denied.One cock’s crow bursts – day breaks, all darkness flies;From every land, sweet songs from Khotan rise.Poets’ joy soars high, unmatched, unties.
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Seven-Syllable Octave – Reply to Mr. Liu Yazi [Mao’s Poems]
–Mao Zedong, April, 1949 Tea talks in Canton still fresh in my mind,Verses sought in Chongqing when leaves declined.Thirty-one years back to our native land,When flowers fall I read your writing grand.Beware too much grief that tears your frame;See all things wide with a long, calm aim.Do not say Kunming Lake’s waters are thin;Watching…
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Seven-Syllable Octave – The People’s Liberation Army Seizes Nanjing [Mao’s Poems]
Mao Zedong – April 1949 O’er Purple Mountain, storms surge sudden, wild and gray;A million mighty troops cross the great Yangtze.Like tiger crouched, dragon coiled, the city shines todayFar brighter than past days; earth turns, heaven realigns –Hearts swell with joy, with triumph’s grand designs.Strike on with leftover might, chase the routed foe;Don’t fish…
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Riverview Fairy – To Comrade Ding Ling [Mao’s Poems]
–Mao Zedong, December 1936 Red flags on walls in sunset glow,West winds sweep o’er the lone fort’s brow.Bao’an sees new faces all around.In cave-halls feasts abound,For one just freed from prison’s bound.
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Spring in a Pleasure Garden – Snow [Mao’s Poems]
–Mao Zedong, February 1936 Behold the northern land’s grand view:A thousand leagues locked in ice and frost,Ten thousand leagues where snowflakes lostIn whirling flight the sky bestrew.Great Wall stretches far, beyond and near;One vast white waste alone appears.The Yellow River’s mighty tideFrom source to sea is stilled, dried.Mountains like silver serpents glide;Plains like waxen…
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Pure Serene Music – Six Coiled Mountain [Mao’s Poems]
–Mao Zedong – October 1935 The sky so high, clouds thin and light,We watch wild geese fly south out of sight.None but a hero reaches the Great Wall;We count – twenty thousand li we’ve hauled.On Six Coiled Mountain’s crest so tall,Red flags stream wide in western wind’s call.Long cords in our hands today we…