Poems by Mao Zedong

All Poems Original Poems Translations

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The Fairy Cave

Inscription on a Picture Taken by Comrade Li Jin

Amid the growing shades of dusk stand sturdy pines,

Riotous clouds sweep past, swift and tranquil.

Nature has excelled herself in the Fairy Cave,

On perilous peaks dwells beauty in her infinite variety.

by Mao Zedong

The Double Ninth

Man ages all too easily, not Nature;

Year by year the Double Ninth returns.

On this Double Ninth,

The yellow blooms on the battle field smell sweeter.

Each year the autumn wind blow fierce,

Unlike string's splendour,

Yet surpassing spring's splendour,

See the endless expanse of frosty sky and water.

by Mao Zedong

Jinggang Mountain

Below the hills fly flags and banners,

Above the hilltops sounds bugles and drums.

The foe encircles us thousands strong,

Steadfastly we stand our ground.

Already our defence is iron-clad,

Now our will unite like a fortress.

From Huangyanggai roars the thunder of cannon,

Word comes the enemy has run away in the night.

by Mao Zedong

Shaoshan Revisited

Like a dim dream recalled, I curse the long-fled past —

My native soil two and thirty years gone by.

The red flag rouse the serf, halberd in hand,

While the despot's black talons held his whip aloft.

Bitter sacrifice strengthens bold resolve

Which dares to make sun and moon shine in new skies.

Happy, I see wave upon wave of paddy and beans,

And all around heroes home-bound in the evening mist.

by Mao Zedong

The Long March

The Red Army fears not the trials of the Long March,

Holding light ten thousand crags and torrents.

The Five Ridges wind like gentle ripples,

And the majestic Wumeng roll by, globules of clay.

Warm the steep cliffs lapped by the water of Jinsha,

Cold the iron chains spanning the Dadu River.

Min Mountain's thousand li of snow joyously crossed,

The three Armies march on, each face glowing.

by Mao Zedong

Reply to a Friend

White clouds are sailing above the Mountain Jiuyi;

Riding the wind, the Princesses descend the green hills.

Once they speckled the bamboos with their profuse tears,

Now they are robbed in rose-red clouds.

Dongting Lake's snow-topped waves surge skyward;

The long isle reverberates with earth-shaking song.

And I am lost in dreams, untrammelled dreams,

Of the land of hibiscus glowing in the morning sun.

by Mao Zedong

Dabodi

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet —

Who is dancing, waving this coloured ribbon against the sky?

The sun returns slanting after the rain

And hill and pass grow a deeper blue.

A furious battle once raged here,

The village walls, bullet-scarred,

Now adorn hill and pass

And make them doubly fair.

by Mao Zedong

Mount Liupan

The sky is high, the clouds are pale,

We watch the wild geese vanish southward.

If we fail to reach the Great Wall we are not men,

We who have already measured twenty thousand li.

High on the crest of Mount Liupan

Red banners wave freely in the west wind.

Today we hold the long cord in our hands,

When shall we bind fast the Grey Dragon?

by Mao Zedong

Farewell to the Plague Spirit

So many green and blue hills, but to what avail?

This tiny creature left Hua Tuo powerless!

Hundreds of villages choked with weeds, men wasted away;

Thousands of homes deserted, ghosts chanted mournfully.

Motionless, by earth I travel eighty thousand li a day,

Surveying the sky I see a myriad Milky Ways from afar.

Should the Cowherd ask tidings of the Plague Spirit,

Say the same griefs flow down the stream of time.

by Mao Zedong

Reascending Jinggang Mountain

I have long aspired to reach for the clouds

And I again ascend Jinggang Mountain.

Coming from afar to view our old haunt,

I find new scenes replacing the old.

Everywhere orioles sing, swallows dart,

Streams babble

And the road mount skyward.

Once Huangyanggai is passed

by Mao Zedong

Beidaihe

A rainstorm sweeps down on the northern land,

White breakers leap to the sky.

No fishing boats off Qinhuangdao

Are seen on the boundless ocean.

Where are they gone?

Nearly two thousand years ago

Wielding his whip, the Emperor Weiwu

Rode eastward to Jieshi; his poem survives.

by Mao Zedong

Reply to Comrade Guo Moruo 1963

On this tiny globe

A few flies dash themselves against the wall,

Humming without cease,

Sometimes shrilling,

Sometimes moaning.

Ants on the locust tree assume a great-nation swagger

And mayflies lightly plot to topple the giant tree.

The west wind scatters leaves over Chang'an,

by Mao Zedong