The sky, blue and clear

     Sunlight, warm and gentle

            Earth, vast and wide

                  Flowers, beautiful and charming

                        Mountains, high and mighty… …

Ema—

    Yet what’s even more wonderful still

           is this waterfall, cascading

                off the steep cliff face, right in front of us

Look!

      Its bubbly waves, pure and pristine

      With spheres of light, the eyes of a peacock feather

            the tuft of a parrot

             patterns of silk brocade

                        the rainbow-like bow of Indra[1]

Listen!

       The sound of its current, clear and euphonic

       the melody of youth, the songs of the gandharvas[2]

            the voice of Brahma

                 the voice of Sarasvati

                        the tune of the cuckoo

­Kye—this is not an ordinary, natural waterfall, no

       a mighty and majestic expression

            a fearless heart

                  undaunted courage

                        flourishing and thriving body

                              elegant and lavish adornments

                                    pleasant and beautiful songs

This is—

            the waterfall of youth, the youth of snowy Tibet

This is—

                  the courage to be creative

                  the expressions of struggle

                  the music of youth

                        within the Tibetan youth of the nineteen-eighties

Kye! Kye!     Ah, youthful waterfall

                   waterfall of youth

                        How did such fearless courage

                             —undaunted self-confidence

                                    —unimpaired splendor

                        —and inexhaustible strength blossom within you?

Indeed,

            the rains falling from the heavens during the three months of spring

                  the springs gushing forth from the earth during the three months of summer

                        the essence of frost and hail during the three months of autumn

                             the quintessence of the ice and snow during the three months of winters

and yet still

            glacial water—mineral water—slate water—water from forests

            marshes—mountains—valleys—ravines—and gullies

In brief,

            —water of auspiciousness

               —water of goodness

                  —water of wishes fulfilled

                        —water with the eight qualities[3]

                            —water of abundance

One hundred and eight different rivulets

       Hundreds of thousands of different types of water

            As you are the one river of their unity

                You dare to cascade off craggy precipices

                        As you are the one river that gathers them all

                             You are brave enough to jump off cliffs into gorges

With your courage to collect the different waters of innovation

Your intellect is vast, your body strong, and your splendor great 

With your lack of arrogance and freedom from conceit

Your flow is long and current fierce

As you have removed impurities and possess the capacity to extract the quintessence

            Your body and mind are pure while the glorious qualities of your youth flourish

O waterfall,

            You are the witness to history

            You are the guide to the future

            Within each of your crystal-clear drops of water

            The highs and lows of snowy Tibet are inscribed

            And inside each droplet of your spray

            The rise and fall of the cool land of snows are contained

Without you,

            How are we to temper the steel of the sword of grammar?

Without you,

            How are we to sharpen the razor of craftsmanship?

Without you,

            The tree of medicine cannot flourish,

                        The flowers of logic and fruit of the inner sciences cannot possibly ripen

Perhaps—

            Within this crystal-like mind of yours

                        The wounds of history

                        The ailments of battle

                        The boils of blind faith

                        And the dust of conservatism might possibly be found

Nevertheless,

            Since you possess the majesty of youth and naturally present glory

            The frost of the three months of winter will never

            —have a chance to place your mind within the recess of glaciers

            The razor blazes of stormy winds might slash

            —your stream a hundred times, yet how could it ever actually be severed?

The reason—

            The head of your river is linked with the snows

            And your river’s mouth mixes with the oceans

            Thus, your long flow of history

                         Has granted us splendor and honor

            The beautiful sound of the flow of your generations

                         Has granted us encouragement and strength

Have your heard—O waterfall!

Of these questions of the youth of snowy Tibet?

             When the stallion of poetry is suffering of thirst, what shall we do?

             When the elephant of composition is suffering of heat, what shall we do?

             When the lion of poetic synonyms is oppressed by malevolence, what shall we do?

             When the young child of drama is left behind as an orphan, how shall we take care of him?

             When the paternal inheritance of astrology is left behind, empty, who will uphold it?

             When the young man of science is taken as a groom, how will he be welcomed?

             When the daughter of craftsmanship is taken as a bride, who will be the husband?

Yes, indeed—O waterfall!

             Your answers which come from music, clear and pristine, beautiful and charming,

                          —We hold in our hearts, like an image carved in stone

Surely

             It is not suitable for the past that blazed with thousand brilliant lights to substitute the present

             And how could yesterday with its taste of salt ever quench the thirst of today?

             When the life-force that is ripe for the times

             Does not fit the lifeless corpse of history, difficult to find,

             It’s impossible for the pulse of improvement to beat

             And the heart blood of advancement cannot flow

             Even more so are the steps on the way forward

Hey, waterfall!

             From your waves shimmering and glistening

                          And from your spray scattering to and fro—

Our strength

              —The strength of the new generation of snowy Tibet has been symbolized

                          From your gurgling, flowing current,

                                        And the bubbling sound of your flowing water

Our dreams,

              —the dreams of the new generation of snowy Tibet, are manifest

Conservatism, cowardice, blind faith, and laziness… …

These have no place whatsoever in this generation of ours

Backwardness, barbarism, darkness, backwards customs… …

There is no room, whatsoever, for these in our century

Waterfall, O waterfall!

Our mind flows with your movement and

Our blood, as well, courses alongside your currents

                          Although on the path of the future

                          The twists and turns may be greater than before,

               Nevertheless, there is no chance for the youth of Tibet to be afraid

                           We will certainly forge a new path forward

                           For each and every one of our people

Look!

               The squadron lined up, those are the new generation of Tibet

Listen!

               This steady song is the footsteps of the youth of snowy Tibet

                          A great, luminous path

                          Responsibility with glory

                          Joyful livelihoods

                          Songs of struggle

Have not vanished within the youth of the waterfall,

And even more so, the waterfall of youth does not decline

This—

            This is the waterfall of youth emerging from the voices of the young generations of snowy Tibet!

This—

            The waterfall of youth flowing in the minds of the youth of snowy Tibet

Notes

Introduction:

​

The tragic yet prolific life of Döndrup Gyal (1953–1985) was one of the foremost catalysts for the birth of modern literature in Tibet. Having grown up during the Cultural Revolution, Döndrul Gyal was one of the first Tibetans to attend Chinese universities upon the post-revolution opening-up and reform. Not only did studying with renown Tibetan and Chinese scholars at the Central Nationalities Institute in Beijing honed his writings skills and gave him access to a new world of literature, it also shaped his progressive vision for the Tibetans.  It was this combination of literary skill and innovative thinking that Döndrup Gyal would soon become famous for. Unfortunately, his progressive views and innovative statements also made him a target for criticism and ostracization in the highly conservative Tibetan society of the day. This, in addition to strained relationships with colleagues and local officials, as well as marital problems with his wife Yumkyi, contributed to his eventual suicide in 1985. Despite his short life of only thirty-two years, his collected works contain six volumes of poetry, fiction, analytical essays, and more which are still studied today.

​

Written under his penname, Rangdrol (self-liberated), Waterfall of Youth is said to be the very first free-verse poem written in Tibetan. To be sure, there is debate whether the Songs of Milarepa and other Tibetan folk literature may equally constitute free-verse poetry. Despite this, it would be impossible to claim that the form and content of Waterfall of Youth were not unique and innovative for its time.

​

The form of the poem is that of a waterfall. As you read down the page, you can see the sometimes gentle, sometimes violent, flow of the waterfall of youth visually cascading down the page. Indeed, when you read the poem, the cadence of the lines is reminiscent of the flow of a waterfall or the current of a river. This form would have previously been most difficult to capture in Tibetan writing given that the majority of books were written or printed on long, narrow rectangular manuscripts. Likewise, the non-native punctuation—namely ellipses and em-dashes—used by Döndrup Gyal here are perhaps one of the very first instances in Tibetan literature.

Despite this radically new form, much of the content echoes of the the Tibetan literature of old. We can see the influences of Indic aesthetics that have so deeply impacted Tibetan literature also present in Waterfall of Youth with deities like Indra and Sarasvasti and animals like elephants and peacocks. Likewise, the five major and five minor fields of traditionally learning form the basis of the questions the youth of Tibet ask the waterfall. Yet, at the very same time, the impact of the political slogans of the day are readily utilized by Döndrup Gyal. Words like conservatism, blind faith, laziness, backwardness, and so forth are all likely words newly created by the communist translation efforts. This blending of tradition and innovation, Buddhist and political terminology, is what has made Waterfall of Youth a timeless poem for Tibetans. This legacy is constantly being reinterpreted too. The words of the poem have been turned into lyrics for a rap song by Tibet’s famous hip-hop artist, Dekyi Tsering. Likewise, numerous parodies have been composed such as Waterfall of Beer and so forth.

​

To date, there are two existing English translations—one by the historian Tsering Shakya and the other by the recently deceased Tsering D. Gonkatsang. Nevertheless, both of these translations leave much to be desired as Shakya’s translation occasionally omits lines and Gonkatsang’s seems to forgo the waterfall stylized formatting. The below translation aims to address these issues by capturing both the tone and resonance while still presenting Döndrup Gyal’s vision in an accessible way. May the waterfall continue to flow onwards!

[1] The bow of Indra (dbang po'i gzhu or brgya byin gzhu) is a poetic synonym for a rainbow.

[2] The gandharvas are a class of being in the Indo-Tibetan cosmology and are said to be the musicians of the god realms.  

[3] Water possessing the eight qualities is traditionally said to be sweet, cool, smooth, light, clear, pure, soothing to the throat, and beneficial to the stomach.  

​

Published: September 2021

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Don grub rgyal. 1997. Lang tsho'i rbab chu. In gsung 'bum don grub rgyal, edited by dbyangs can sgeg pa'i blo gros, Par gzhi dang po par thengs dang po, vol. 1, pp. 160–167. Mi rigs dpe bskrun khang. BDRC MW18123