Mother's Hand

—Among the Nuosu, when a mother dies, her body is laid out facing rightwards to be cremated.

People say this leaves her left hand free to keep spinning yarn, even in the spirit-world.

In this right-facing pose she goes off to sleep

The sleep of a long river

The sleep of a far-stretching ridgeline

Many people have seen her

Laid out in those places

Whereupon those highland sons and daughters

Go to the shore of an unseen ocean

And where the waves of land subside

A mermaid remains on the shore

Behind her is a brooding shoal

Where only an ancient song is heard

Bearing up the purest of crescent moons

In this right-facing pose she goes off to sleep

In the clear-aired wind

In a hazy rain-shower

She is enveloped in thin mist

She is enwreathed in white clouds

Whether at tranquil daybreak

Or in enchanting twilight

All else turns to chilled sculpture

Only her left arm floats free

Its skin surely gives off warmth

Its veins surely flow with blood

In this right-facing pose she goes off to sleep

How like a mermaid she is

How like a crescent moon

How like a brooding shoal

She sleeps between land and sky

She sleeps on the heights of birth and death

Only thus do rivers keep flowing beneath her

Only thus do forests keep growing beneath her

Only thus do boulders keep standing beneath her

Only thus do my sweet, suffering people

Keep weeping and shouting and singing

In this right-facing pose she goes off to sleep

All things in the world will fade away

In the vast vault of heaven

In undying memory

Only her left arm still floats

So tender, so beautiful and free