If a Mountain Lion Could Sing

If a Mountain Lion Could Sing gathers 120 translations of Xin Qiji's verses, exploring universal concepts of solitude, duty, youth, love, and nostalgia.

Red Pine gathers and translates 120 of Xin Qiji's lyric poems in his latest bilingual collection, If a Mountain Lion Could Sing. Visiting the very places where Xin composed his stanzas--the cassia trees of the Wu River, boathouses along the Yangzi--and paying respect at the poet's grave, translation becomes a spiritual and physical exercise for Red Pine. In his skilled hands, Xin's revolutionary consciousness is firmly on display. Political themes and ideas of intimacy cross paths, moving between the voices of statesman and lover. Written over 800 years ago, Xin's verses leap across centuries to relay the universal concepts of solitude, duty, youth, aging, love, and nostalgia. Though "true mirrors are hard to come by," Xin's poems serve as haunting reflections of the self.