The Serenity of a Diamond - Zhao Lihong / 赵丽宏
After the scream dies down / A picture of serenity comes into my sight / As the horizon takes in the setting sun / The world grows dark bit by bit /
Zhao Lihong / 赵丽宏
The Serenity of a Diamond
(Translated by Zhou Wenbiao)
After the scream dies down
A picture of serenity comes into my sight
As the horizon takes in the setting sun
The world grows dark bit by bit
In the inky night sky
There appear shimmering stars
Which are the eyes that open in the darkness
Gazing at the serene expanse
The once chaotic and noisy world
Had healed countless cracks
And soothed the ubiquitous pain
In silence
Confused thoughts and drifting shards
Grief, delight, weariness, and daze
Silently gathering in the depths of the night
Accumulating and converging into a flowing, clear stream
That rushes toward the distance, soundless and quiet
Bids farewell to the hustle and chaos left behind
Starting from a tiny, gentle stillness
Flowing into the vast and boundless tranquility
The night will fade away
The sky will return to brightness
And then, the rising sun will be a new rising sun
The world will be a new world
Even if the scream resounds again
In the sound of screaming, there will be
The unending stillness that never fades
Just like a diamond buried in gravel
The serenity of a diamond
Condenses the essence of eons of time
Whether buried shallow or deep
Within its serenity, the shadow of the sound emerges
The sound is the distant memory that stretches infinitely
Together with the glow of the flame
Compressed in the tightest crystal
As well as in the dark abyss without sunlight
A single diamond conceals a whole galaxy of stars
A single diamond condenses the essence of an entire universe
A single diamond holds countless secrets
Meticulously planned by the Creator
I am just an ordinary grain of sand
And the humblest dust in the universe
I am also a diamond with profound connotation
And a common star that has fallen onto the earth
Amidst chaos and dust-laden swirls
I stick to the serenity of the diamond
Even though temporarily deprived of its radiance in isolation
The serenity in the darkness now still holds endless hopes
December 2025 at my Four-Pace Study
钻石的沉静
尖叫声过去后
我看到一片沉静
就像地平线接纳了夕阳
世界逐渐趋暗
墨色的夜空中
出现了晶莹的星星
那是黑暗中睁开的眼睛
凝视着无声大地
曾经喧嚣混沌的世界
在沉静中
愈合了数不清的裂痕
平复了无处不在的伤痛
混乱的思绪和飞扬的碎片
苦痛、欢悦、困顿、迷乱
在幽邃的夜色中静静聚合
沉积汇集成一条流动的清溪
向远方奔流，无声无息
告别了喧嚣混沌
从小小的沉寂
流向浩瀚无际的宁静
夜色会消散
天空会重返光明
那时，旭日会是新的旭日
世界会是新的世界
即便尖叫声重新响起
叫声中，会隐藏
不再消退的沉静
就像埋藏在砂砾中的钻石
钻石的静默
凝集着亿万年时间的精华
不管埋藏得是浅是深
静默中浮现着声音的影子
声音是无穷遥远的记忆
连同火焰的光芒
被压缩在最紧密的晶体
压缩在不见天日的暗黑之中
一颗钻石，隐蔽着一片星空
一颗钻石，凝缩着一个宇宙
一颗钻石，深藏着造物主
精心策划的无穷秘密
我是一粒普通的砂砾
是天地间最卑微的尘土
我也是一颗有内涵的钻石
是坠落在大地上的繁星
在尘土的喧嚣和飞扬中
我坚守钻石的沉静
即便在封闭中暂时失去光芒
黑暗中的静默却有了无尽的憧憬
2025 年12 月于四步斋
***
Zhao Lihong is a Chinese poet, essayist and novelist. Born in Shanghai in 1952, he is currently the chairperson of the Shanghai International Poetry Festival. He has authored over a hundred books including poetry collections, essays and novels. His representative works include poetry collections such as The Boat in the Sky, Pains and Metamorphosis. His works have won awards such as the New Era Excellent Essay Collection Award, China Good Book Award and Wenjin Book Award. In 2013, he was awarded the Smederevo Golden Key International Poetry Award in Serbia. In 2014, he received the Shanghai Literature and Art Outstanding Contribution Award and was appointed as an honorary academician of the Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC). In 2019, he won the Mihai Eminescu International Poetry Award in Romania and was elected as an academician of the French Academy of Sciences, Arts and Humanities. In 2024, he received the International Bing Xin Literature Award Gold Prize. In 2025, he won the Montale Literature Award in Italy and the KS International Poetry Award in South Korea. His works have been translated into English, French, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Persian and many other languages and published overseas.
赵丽宏，中国诗人、散文家、小说家。1952年生于上海。现为上海国际诗歌节主席。著有诗集、散文集、小说等各种专著共一百余部。代表作有诗集《天上的船》《疼痛》《变形》等。作品曾获新时期优秀散文集奖、中国好书奖、文津图书奖。2013年荣获塞尔维亚斯梅德雷沃金钥匙国际诗歌奖。2014年获上海市文学艺术杰出贡献奖，同年被授予北京师范大学-香港浸会大学联合国际学院（UIC）荣誉院士。2019年获罗马尼亚“米哈伊·爱明内斯库国际诗歌大奖”，同年被选为法国科学、艺术人文学院院士。2024年获国际冰心文学奖金奖。2025年获意大利蒙塔莱文学奖、韩国KS国际诗歌奖。作品被翻译成英、法、俄、意、西班牙、保加利亚、乌克兰、塞尔维亚、罗马尼亚、波兰、匈牙利、日、韩、阿拉伯、波斯等多种文字在海外出版。
