Translations of Meng Zhicheng's Poems

1. Touch a Maple Leaf

By Meng Zhicheng (Shanxi)

At Shuangqing Villa, dawn pushes open a crack in the window lattice,

And maple red spreads all the way up the mountains.

A thin kiss hangs from the eaves corner,

Like the softest afternoon light, falling on the old tiles.

I look up, and the entire maple forest suddenly rises higher,

To touch the distant white sails made of clouds.

In fact, it only takes breaking off a corner of a maple leaf

To write a letter to the snow, yet it ignites a mountain - wide fire.

There is only one sentence in the letter: "When snow covers our shoulders, we will slide into spring together."

2. Our Myriad Rivers and Mountains

By Meng Zhicheng (Shanxi)

You said: After traveling through countless rivers and mountains,

All the wind and moon are beautiful.

What is truly beautiful is never the wind and moon itself,

But the eyes that still refuse to close

After seeing all the wind and moon.

Now you return to the paper,

Beside my desk,

Grinding the last inch of rough terrain

Into a rhyme.

As the tip of the pen falls,

A mountain and a river rise from the ink,

Making way for more distant myriad rivers and mountains for you.

3. As High as the Sky, as Low as Dust

By Meng Zhicheng (Shanxi)

Dust lies prostrate on the ground,

Yet it holds up all footprints to form roads.

It never refuses to be trampled—

Shoe soles, wheel hubs, raindrops, layer by layer,

Grind it into a lighter version of itself.

With just one glance back from the wind,

It leaps forward,

Reaching the sun before even the light.

It turns out that high and low

Are the same kind of humility.

Reaching upward, it surrenders the vastness to the sky;

Settling downward, it keeps the tranquility to itself.

Author Bio

Meng Zhicheng, pen name Youzhizhe, is from Huairen City, Shuozhou, Shanxi Province. He is a member of the Communist Party of China, a university graduate from the Central Party School (majoring in Economic Management), and a retired cadre of China Coal Pingshuo Company. He has served as the director of Pingshuo Sanitary and Anti - epidemic Station, the secretary of the Party branch and deputy director (acting director) of Pingshuo Health Department, and the director of Pingshuo Mining Area Medical Emergency Center. Currently, he holds positions such as Honorary Consultant of the News Official Website of China Central Television, Vice President of the China Federation of Literary and Art Workers, Consultant of Shuozhou Overseas Chinese Federation, Vice President of Shuozhou Brand Construction Special Committee of Shanxi Brand Association, and Vice President of Shuozhou Medical Association. He is also a member of the China Prose Society and the China Poetry Research Association, a contracted writer of Capital Literature, a certified editor - in - chief of Jinbang Toutiao, a certified editor of Dushi Toutiao, the chief editor of "Hundred Flowers Garden", the journal of the China Federation of Literary and Art Workers, and an editor of the China WeChat Writers Association, Jiuzhou Literature Association, and Classic Literature Network. In addition, he is the chairman and president of Shanxi Shuozhou Sanggan River Literature General Society (Jiuzhou Federation of Literary and Art Circles Branch), the president of Sanggan River Literature Society of Young Writers, and the president and chief editor of Huangguoshu Literature Shuozhou Branch.

1. More than 200 of his literary works have been published in online media, newspapers and magazines, and he has won many awards.

2. "My Mother" won the Gold Award in the 3rd "Mao Dun Literature Cup" National Competition, and this work has been collected by the National Museum.

3. "Evening in the Suburbs of Moscow" won the First Prize of the "World Chinese Literature and Art Award".

4. "My Grandson" won the First Prize in the 4th "Liaoheyuan Cup" Essay Competition.

5. An excerpt from "Persisting in Writing at the Depths of Years - My Road of Literary Creation" won the First Prize in the 2nd 2025 "Qu Yuan Cup" Literature and Art Competition.

6. "My Granddaughter" won the "Outstanding Literature Award" of the "China Literary World Celebrities and Masters Style Cup".

7. "Seven - Character Regulated Verse · Praising Teacher Huang Shufang" won the "Outstanding Literature Award" of the "China Literary World Celebrities and Masters Style Cup".

8. "Moon over Zhongshan" won the "Best Popularity Award" in the 1st "Zhongshan Cup" and the 2nd "Yuanyang Cup" Friendship Poetry Competition.

9. "Wind in September" won the Second Prize in the Essay Contest with Prizes.

10. In 2024, he won the honorary title of "Excellent Author" from Dushi Toutiao, "Outstanding Contributor" from Poetry China, and the Excellent Award in the 20th "Sanmu Bingfeng" Cup National Essay Contest.

Critical Comments

With Heart Attached to Rivers and Mountains, Pen Depicting Stars - The Spiritual Realm and Poetic Breakthrough of Meng Zhicheng's Three - Theme Poems

By Chai Yonghong (Author of the Critical Comments)

Too many poems indulge in the murmurs of personal emotions and lose the sharpness of words in trivial daily life. Meng Zhicheng, taking the three themes of "Touch a Maple Leaf", "Our Myriad Rivers and Mountains" and "As High as the Sky, as Low as Dust" as blades, cuts through the texture of life and reaches the core of the spirit. This group of poems is by no means an ordinary description of scenery or expression of emotions. Instead, it is a profound inquiry into life, emotions and values made by a writer with years of experience, standing at the intersection of life and the times. With "maple leaves" as letter paper, "myriad rivers and mountains" as a journey, and "dust" as coordinates, he moves freely between the grand and the trivial, elevating his personal life experience into a universal spiritual resonance. Poetry becomes a spiritual bridge spanning time and space, marking a unique path full of strength and warmth in the contemporary poetry world.

I. "Touch a Maple Leaf": Using Maple as Fire to Light Up the Letter Paper of Years

"Touch a Maple Leaf" begins with both the heaviness of history and the lightness of poetry. "At Shuangqing Villa, dawn pushes open a crack in the window lattice, and maple red spreads all the way up the mountains." The four words "Shuangqing Villa" immediately anchor a special space - time coordinate, making "dawn" no longer a simple natural moment but a spiritual dawn. "Maple red spreading over the mountains" is not an ordinary autumn scene either, but a passion for life spreading from a corner of the window lattice and a spiritual fire flowing from the depths of history. "A thin kiss hangs from the eaves corner, like the softest afternoon light falling on the old tiles." The superposition of the images of "kiss" and "light" skillfully combines the tough architecture with soft emotions. The maple red at the eaves corner seems to be the trace of years kissing the world, and the faint light on the old tiles is the tenderness precipitated by time. The heaviness of history becomes tangible and perceptible under the poetic brush.

The middle part of the poem shows even more ingenuity. "I look up, and the entire maple forest suddenly rises higher to touch the distant white sails made of clouds." A simple action of "looking up" breaks the boundary between reality and imagination. The maple forest is no longer a static scenery but a living existence with pursuit. It grows towards the white sails in the clouds, implying the yearning for the distance and ideals. And "In fact, it only takes breaking off a corner of a maple leaf to write a letter to the snow, yet it ignites a mountain - wide fire" pushes the poetry to the first climax. "Breaking a maple leaf to write a letter" is delicate romance, while "igniting a mountain - wide fire" is magnificent passion. Between the soft and the firm, the tension of emotions is fully displayed. The mountain - wide maple fire is not only an eager expectation for the snow but also a passionate declaration of life. An ordinary act bursts out with shocking power.

The ending, "There is only one sentence in the letter: 'When snow covers our shoulders, we will slide into spring together'", can be called a brilliant stroke. In just one sentence, the expectation for the future, the longing for companionship and the perception of the cycle of seasons are integrated. "Snow covering shoulders" is a romantic agreement, and "sliding into spring" is a dynamic hope. The quietness of winter conceals the foreshadowing of spring. The emotion of the whole poem precipitates from the fiery maple fire to gentle expectation, leaving a long - lasting aftertaste.

II. "Our Myriad Rivers and Mountains": Using Heart as a Boat to Measure the Realm of Emotions

If "Touch a Maple Leaf" is an expression of nature and time, "Our Myriad Rivers and Mountains" is an in - depth exploration of emotions and memories. The opening line, "You said: After traveling through countless rivers and mountains, all the wind and moon are beautiful", starts with a dialogue style, which is simple and straightforward but full of deep feelings. "Traveling through countless rivers and mountains" is a shared experience, and "all the wind and moon are beautiful" is the initial heartthrob, laying a nostalgic and warm tone for the whole poem.

Immediately after, "What is truly beautiful is never the wind and moon itself, but the eyes that still refuse to close after seeing all the wind and moon" turns the focus. It jumps out of the praise of scenery and points directly to the essence of emotions. What is really precious is not the scenery itself, but the time spent watching the scenery with a loved one and the eyes that are still full of love for the world after going through the trials of years. This turn instantly elevates the theme of the poem from the superficial appreciation of "wind and moon" to the in - depth praise of "companionship" and "original aspiration".

"Now you return to the paper, beside my desk, grinding the last inch of rough terrain into a rhyme" materializes the longing. "Returning to the paper" means putting memories into words, "beside the desk" is the real scene, and "grinding the rough terrain into a rhyme" is transforming the hardships of the past into a poetic expression. The "rough terrain" here refers not only to the difficulties during the journey but also the hardships in life. However, in the poet's writing, they all turn into gentle rhymes, implying the life wisdom of facing hardships with an optimistic attitude and also reflecting the deep attachment to "you". Even if "you" are not around, he can meet "you" again in words and turn pain into beauty.

The ending, "As the tip of the pen falls, a mountain and a river rise from the ink, making way for more distant myriad rivers and mountains for you", once again breaks the boundary between reality and poetry. When the tip of the pen falls, mountains and rivers emerge from the ink. This is not only a manifestation of the poet's creative power but also a deep affection for "you". He builds a new "myriad rivers and mountains" for "you" in words. This emotion transcends the limitations of time and space and continues forever in the poetic realm. The whole poem takes "myriad rivers and mountains" as a clue, connecting the past, present and future, and elevating personal emotions into a universal pursuit of "companionship" and "eternity".

III. "As High as the Sky, as Low as Dust": Using Dust as a Mirror to See the Philosophy of Life

Compared with the previous two poems, "As High as the Sky, as Low as Dust" is more philosophical. The poet uses the seemingly tiny image of "dust" to discuss the dialectical relationship between "high" and "low" and shows a profound thinking about the value of life. The opening line, "Dust lies prostrate on the ground, yet it holds up all footprints to form roads", subverts people's inherent cognition of "dust". Although it lies humbly on the ground, it silently bears the footprints of human beings and gathers scattered footprints into a road forward, implying the philosophy that "greatness is born from the ordinary".

"It never refuses to be trampled—shoe soles, wheel hubs, raindrops, layer by layer, grind it into a lighter version of itself" further portrays the character of dust. "Not refusing to be trampled" shows tolerance and tenacity, and "being ground into a lighter version of itself" means growing in hardships and transforming under pressure. The "dust" here is no longer a simple natural substance but a symbol of those ordinary lives that silently endure and constantly grow. They are neither humble nor arrogant under trampling and become more pure in trials.

"With just one glance back from the wind, it leaps forward, reaching the sun before even the light" is the most tense paragraph in the whole poem. "The wind's glance back" is an opportunity, "leaping forward" is courage, and "reaching the sun before even the light" is the pursuit of surpassing the limit. This image perfectly connects the "lowness" of dust with the "highness" of the sun, showing the belief that "even the humble have lofty aspirations". It breaks the absolute boundary between "high" and "low", and ordinary lives bloom with extraordinary brilliance.

The ending, "It turns out that high and low are the same kind of humility. Reaching upward, it surrenders the vastness to the sky; settling downward, it keeps the tranquility to itself", is a summary of the philosophical thinking of the whole poem. The poet points out that "high" and "low" are not opposites but are unified in the character of "humility". When pursuing upward, it does not monopolize the vastness and knows how to revere and share; when settling downward, it does not complain about the tranquility and knows how to persist and be content with itself. This dialectical thinking about "high and low" is not only a praise for the character of dust but also a guide to life attitude. The whole poem is full of the light of wisdom.

Looking at these three theme poems by Meng Zhicheng, their uniqueness lies in "seeing the big from the small and controlling reason with emotion". He is good at starting from tiny images such as "maple leaves" and "dust", exploring the emotions and philosophical thoughts contained in them, and then expanding them to grand scenes such as "mountain - wide fire", "myriad rivers and mountains" and "sky and sun", forming a distinct contrast and tension. At the same time, as a retired cadre with rich life experience, his poems do not have artificial emotions or empty arguments. Instead, he integrates his personal experiences, emotions and thoughts into the words, which not only show a delicate perception of life but also a profound insight into life and a positive response to the times.

It is not difficult to see from the author's bio that Meng Zhicheng has been deeply engaged in the literary field for many years. Many of his works have won awards and been collected by the National Museum. Behind this honor is his dedication and love for literature. His identities—retired cadre, consultant of the literary federation, president of the literature society, etc.—also make his poems have both family and country feelings and humanistic warmth. He not only pays attention to the delicate expression of personal emotions but also does not forget to praise and inherit the spirit of the times.

In the contemporary poetry world, Meng Zhicheng's poems are like a fresh stream. They do not chase trends or flaunt avant - garde styles. Instead, they move every reader with the most sincere emotions, the most simple language and the most profound thoughts. The romantic passion of "Touch a Maple Leaf", the deep and long - lasting affection of "Our Myriad Rivers and Mountains" and the transparent philosophical thinking of "As High as the Sky, as Low as Dust" together constitute his rich spiritual world and unique poetic style. This group of poems is not only a record of his personal life experience but also an interpretation of the common emotions and spiritual pursuits of human beings. It reminds us that no matter what kind of situation we are in, we should maintain our love for life, our pursuit of ideals and our cherish for emotions, and write extraordinary poetry in ordinary lives.