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Antelope Canyon, near Page, AZ, sits on land owned by the Navajo Nation.
After the photograph by Bing Hua
Goddess of Antelope Canyon
Bing Hua
Translation by Yingcai Xu
I came from the mundane world
There I dwelled on a mountain summit
And went through
Unbearable chilliness
I died
In a bloody windstorm
But was reborn
in this Antelope Canyon
To stay aloof from the squabbles of the world
And live tempered for eons in loneliness
Focusing on creations in the deep canyon
To use the canyon as a color palette
To use the rainwater as colors
To use the sky as a canvas
And to use the robust wind and rain as a burin
I collaborate with the sunlight
To transform every facet of the 360 degrees into a view
And produce new art every minute
The riot colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple
“Is not meant to dazzle, yet visitors are dazzled by themselves”
Oh, as a human
One does not necessarily have to aim high
Low places also boast the most beautiful scenes
Oh, heaven
Is not necessarily in the sky
Antelope Canyon
Is the most beautiful heaven
What comes colliding in the Antelope Canyon is
The symphony of light, shadow, and color
The perfect singing of pebbles, sands, and winds
The resonance of heaven, earth, and man
The karma achieved through long cultivation
A gift from the magic nature
And the miraculous word that will carry on and on
Editor’s Note: The line in quotes above is the second half of a Chinese colloquial saying. The first half is "Wine is not to intoxicate, yet the drinkers are intoxicated by themselves.” This thought adds a challenging dimension to the poem.
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