Poems | Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung

REPLY TO MR. LIU YA-TZU

--to the tune of Wan Hsi Sha

October 1950


 

At a song and dance performance during the National Day celebrations of 1950, Mr. Liu Ya-tzu wrote an impromptu poem to the tune of Wan Hsi Sha, to which I replied, using the same rhyme sequence.


The night was long and dawn came slow to the Crimson Land.
For a century demons and monsters whirled in a
wild dance,
And the five hundred million people were disunited.
Now the cock has crowed and all under heaven is bright,
Here is music from all our peoples, from Yutien too,
And the poet is inspired as never before.


LIU YA-TZU'S POEM

--to the tune of Wan Hsi Sha

On October 3, I attended a soirée in Huai Jen Tang. Performances were given by ensembles from the various nationalities in the Southwest, Sinkiang, Yenpien in Kirin Province, and Inner Mongolia. At Chairman Mao's request, I composed the following poem to celebrate the great unity of the nationalities.

Displays of fiery trees and silver flowers, a night without darkness.
Brothers and sisters skip by gracefully in dance.
The strains of The Full Moon* rise with joyful swell.
But for one man's wise leadership,
How could the hundred nationalities assemble?
This merry eve's festive gathering surpasses all!

*LlU YA-TZU'S NOTE:

There is a Kazakh folk song in Sinkiang called The Full Moon.

 



Poems | Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung