Thought Watchman | Cheng Hong: Translated Poem “I Have Not Left”

Cheng Hong (born November 21, 1957), a native of Junan, Shandong, graduated from the Luoyang PLA Foreign Languages Institute. She is a professor of English language and literature at the university level, a scholar, and a doctor of literature. She is the widow of Li Keqiang, the former Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. Li Keqiang and his wife Cheng Hong married in 1983 and had one daughter.

I have not left

Cheng Hong

Do not cry at my grave,

I am not there,

I have not left.

I am the ten-thousand-mile breeze,

I am the sparkling light of the snow,

I am the ripe wheat in the sunlight,

I am the gentle autumn rain falling,

I am the twinkling starlight in the night,

When you wake up in the morning’s hush,

I am the soaring birds flying straight up.

……

Do not cry at my grave,

I am not there,

I have not left.

Do not stand at my grave and weep

By Mary Elizabeth Frye

Do not stand at my grave and weep

I am not there

I do not sleep

I am a thousand winds that blow

I am the diamond glints on snow

I am the sunlight on ripened grain

I am the gentle autumn rain

When you awaken in the morning’s hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight

I am the soft stars that shine at night

Do not stand at my grave and cry

I am not there

I did not die