Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader (81 page)

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Authors: Geremie Barme

Tags: #History, #Asia, #China, #Literary Criticism, #Asian, #Chinese, #Political Science, #Political Ideologies, #Communism; Post-Communism & Socialism, #World, #General, #test

BOOK: Shades of Mao: The Posthumous Cult of the Great Leader
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Page 253
And walked into the snow-bound history of China
The warmth of his every step
sent tremors of delight
through the frozen earth
So much emotion trapped in frustration
silently found release
How many seeds that had been dormant
now woke from sleep
This oak that grew in the soil by the Xiang River [of Hunan]
embued with the strength of its waters and its indomitable
spirit
Mao Zedong's imposing figure bowed down
only to Truth and the People
He advanced slowly
and in a landscape of evening snow
he became the concrete symbol of the Chinese revolution
He used the spark on the prairie
to weld together hammer and sickle
raising them to become a new banner
Mao Zedong, that giant man,
always marched to the beat of a different drummer
and gave voice to a unique emotion
Every step he took was a solid beat
Every step he took left a deep impression
He buried the shadows of a dynasty
Every line of his poetry
was a Great Wall that stood solid against the storm
Towards the end of his poem
Mao Zedong turned around slowly
gave a nonchalant wave of his hand and said:
all are past and gone!
4
His shining forehead stands out on the horizon of the snow-lands
and is the shining glory of a new dawn for China.
Eternal Remembrance
Zhao Aimin
At Chairman Mao's Memorial Hall I gathered these blossoms
. . .

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