ugh! love the internet.

i chanced upon a webpage with an article Shu Ting wrote about Gu Cheng. Both are comtemporary Chinese poets. The former is one of my favorite poets. The latter killed his wife and committed suicide afterwards. On that page, there was a scanned in newspaper cutting with pictures of Gu Cheng and his response in an interview. He said.
"Having your poetry read is like being a fish displayed frozen on a fishmonger's slab. People say it tastes good but no one would like to swim in the sea with it." (how true...)

i haven't read his stuff for ages, but one of his lines would always give me the shiver whenever i read it.

A Generation (Translation by Joseph R. Allen)

Even with these dark eyes, a gift of the dark night
I go to seek the shining light


一代人 (顾城)

黑夜給了我黑色的眼睛
我卻用它尋找光明

in this case i wouldn't translate the verse with "Even". I feel that the original poem has a sense of irony in it, which is lost in the translation(although it rhymes). and i hate the "shining" part. too much unnecessary ornamentations. make the poem lose its transparency. I think the translator would be better off just literally translating it. like,

the dark night gave me these dark eyes,
but with them, i go to seek the light.