China and the West

Snyder, Gary. Turtle island [ID D29320].
Snyder, Gary. Mother earth. [Auszug].
Pere David's Deer, the Elaphure,
Lived in the tule marshes of the Yellow
River
Two thousand years ago -- and lost its
home to rice -
The forests of Lo-yang were logged and
all the silt &
Sand flowed down, and gone, by 1200 AD -
Wild Geese hatched out in Siberia
head south over basins of the
Yang, the Huang,
what we call "China"
On flyways they have used a million years.
Ah China, where are the tigers, the wild
boars,
the monkeys,
like the snows of yesteryear
Gone in a mist, a flash, and the dry hard
ground
Is parking space for fifty thousand trucks.
IS man most precious of all things?
- then let us love him, and his brothers,
all those
Fading living beings - …

Fire is an old story.
I would like,
with a sense of helpful order,
with respect for laws
Of nature,
to help my land
with a burn, a hot clean
Burn.

Sekundärliteratur
Joan Qionglin Tan : The image of China in the poem hints at the impending great ecological crisis on earth, because China represents the old root of civilization, the once-great Buddhist nation, and the land of mountains and rivers and yet this great cultural root is eroding. The heavy sigh 'Ah China' from the mouth of the poet indicates that an ecological revolution will be needed urgently to allow the re-inhabitation of the land as opposed to its destruction. For the benefit of the real land, Snyder pleads for people to descend following transcendence. Descending from the heights of enlightenment, he suggests, might be the best way to heal the land. The first prescription he offers his readers is to descend with healing fire. The effect of such burning is rebirth in China.