The Ship Sails Away by Ko Yu An

The ship sails away
Towards the bright Dipper;
The ship sails away
Its gleaming lights melting into the Milky Way.

Ah, clouds and mist of the ocean,
Move off the shipping-route, please!
Let us see off the ship as it steams far away,
Carrying greetings from Sisha to our motherland.

Carry our fertile guano deposits
To the farms to hasten an abundant harvest;
Sea wind, bring us the scent of crops
Sweet and heady as good old wine.

Carry our vivid, striped virgularia
To the friends from lands far away;
Separated by mountains and oceans we cannot see them;
But our hearts beat as one, we clasp their hands.

Transplant our red trees of coral
At the entrance of the great Hall of the People;
Like our hearts, they will bloom in all seasons,
Never to wither or fade.

Send the rare sea-cucumber
To Chung Nan Hai, to the leader loved by us all;
If Chairman Mao will but taste it,
We shall talk of it all night in our delight.

The ship sails away
Towards the bright Dipper,
The ship sails away,
Its gleaming lights melting into the Milky Way.

Ah, motherland! change all the stars of the Milky Way
Into lights on thousands and tens of thousands of ships;
Let us bear off this crystal palace from the South Sea
To build another great hall on Changan Boulevard.

Translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang. Source: Chinese Literature Monthly, January 1, 1961.