A Rock

190110801 Peter王思源

Who are you to intrude my sight?

Yet there you are, the unexpected guest.

Into my perception, I did not invite.

What want you, have yourself confessed.

I have travelled across the earth.

Down the bedrock and through the crust.

Cover me with a pile of dust.

You who would kindly lift my curse.

What is the curse, you may ask?

I was the boulder Sisyphus rolled uphill.

With an ordinary look I am bemasked.

Coming off from it, such is not my will.

Benevolent stranger who would stop to care,

Please, with me if you would bear.

For just once, if only someone could hear me.

A pile of dust is all I need.

What would happen, if I did,

With dust I covered you, as you wished?

Give me a reason, quid pro quo.

Convince me not, away I will go.

Benevolent stranger who stopped to care,

Please, with me if you would bear.

To Sisyphus’s boulder, I would return.

For reunion with my siblings, so long I have yearned.

Defy the gods, although he might,

Callus and blister, inner thighs hard chafed.

Him to be happy, we should imagine.

To make peace for eternity, with such punishment.

An alliance with him I have formed.

I would be nowhere now, had away he stormed.

An accident was all had happened.

That had led to my separation from him.

“Happy” you say? Did I mishear?

You are nothing but a gravel lying here.

What do you know about eternity?

Free me please, from this absurdity.

Benevolent stranger who stopped to care,

Please, with me if you would bear.

Him to be unfortunate, you may reckon.

Stay for longer while I answer your question.

How different are you, my dearest friend,

From King Sisyphus, ruler of Corinth?

Everyone has a boulder of his own,

For you the ordinary, ‘tis plain ol’ living.

So laborious and futile is your day.

To hold no chances in cheating death,

Sleep and wake, work and play,

All until you’ve stopped your breath.

Why he should be happy, you may inquire.

He never stopped defying, despite his tires.

Down the hill when the boulder rolls,

Among the toil, he steals a stroll.

‘Tis all beings that absurdity haunts.

Forever and eternally, it taunts you and taunts.

If freedom is all that you want,

Wait till you ask: « Quoi maintenant ? »

“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may”

When your boulder rolls all the way,

Down your hill, beguile your toil.

Blow some dandelions, smell the soil.

Benevolent stranger who stopped to care,

With me for so long you have borne.

Grant my wishes, help me once.

To Sisyphus’s boulder, I would return.

Why return, my dearest friend,

Unlike other gravels, you are a gem.

Be the rock to exist here and now.

‘Tis your boulder, free art thou.