The Melting Snow

Cen Sang

　　Unwilling to be driven from the streets, the heavy snow piles sit here and there in the bumpy places, looking stubborn and rough. It is piled so deep and gives off a chilling air that makes people tremble.

　　Don’t you believe that the cold winter has ended and spring has come?

　　At that time, as the biting north wind blew, nature appeared to be frozen solid. Buried under the hard crust of snow, the world gasped in exhaustion. The world has dumb and the pleasure of the rich forests had faded. Hope had curled up and hidden away in the depths of the frozen earth to pass its winter in hibernation. The pleasure of life had withered and the songs had died down too, leaving only the sighs, howling wind the cry of jackdaws. Men became heart-broken and their senses dulled. The hope of green life gradually withered away with the dry twigs and brittle leaves. The only fresh colour in the world were the blood stains on the snow-covered field.

　　It was simply like that the ice age had returned!

　　During the long nights, people were used to a hopeless and miserable life. When the warmth of spring finally arrived and snow melted, some people were too numb to believe in the passing of time.

　　Is it because of winter that you do not believe in spring?

　　In piles here and there, the snow was stubborn to melt away. And in the corners where the sun spent little or no time, the snow remained thick and threatening.

　　So, why don’t you believe that the cold winter has passed and spring has arrived?

　　Then it was a time of a hundred leagues locked in ice and ten thousand leagues of whirling snow. The world was in fact still frozen and silenced by the force of the ice and snow. Man was forced to wait in pain. The eagerness for the coming of spring made them anxious to the point of tearing their chests open.

　　Oh, when would the colourful butterflies be whirling about again? When would the orioles be flying around? When would the flowers blossom, the trees turn green, the bee hives overflow wither sweet honey, and the human heart be full of the ties of friendship?...

　　Beautiful expectations are dancing in our hearts, for life has been so desolate for so long and nobody can bear it any longer. We sincerely hope that the snow melt overnight, and the flowers and leaves flourish. But the warmth of spring is not yet enough to melt the hard, thick ice. No wonder that even after the swallows are darting about, there are still some people who are not yet convinced that the world is changing. And there are those men who are only satisfied in their eagerness to understand this feeling through touch.

　　Is it just because of this that you don’t believe spring is before your eyes?

　　The sun’s reflection of the melting snow is blinding our eyes. However, it is slowly melthing and no longer can you build a snowman with it.

　　With a chilly gesture, the melting snow still settles in this corner and that corner, trying its best to keep a foothold to life. However, the melting weather is too warm for the snow, so it finally surrendered to spring.

　　The remainder of snow, you are a proof of the ugly force that desperately attempts to force itself upon the earth when it should retreat. You are also a symbol of the impossible escape from its doomed fate. You belong to winter with your cold-blooded and untamed character. However, you are also a proof in the triumph of spring with your dissolving appearance. We can see the real spring atmosphere through your chilly, bleak light.

　　The cold winter has retreated, and the melting snow is its real guard.

　　Time is ruthless yet full of feeling. Those which must die, die; and those which should live, live. It curses those which should be cursed and turns green those which be praised.

　　Spring drifts in lightly from beyond the sky in the form of gentle breeze and skylarks.

　　Spring silently oozes from under the earth in the form of grass, leaves and fresh shoots.

　　Spring rushes up from mountain valleys, in the form of streams, riverbeds and lakes with shining ripples.

　　Spring changes into countless life forms, into songs, smiles and warm and beautiful colours…

　　We have been longing for you, spring. You are that wonderful season when life beings. Today, we put on spring couplets, hang up lanterns and colourful decorations over gateways, light the ever-burning lamps to usher you in! The children light their firecrackers and fireworks, and girls put on their butterfly hair ties and wear their colourful dresses to cheerfully usher you in with complete happiness.

　　Oh, spring, you are the best season and are beyond words to describe. You are so wonderful that even when our exciting affection towards you is put together, it still amounts to so little.

　　It’s better to greet you with our hope which has just been recovered!

　　It’s better to greet you with our will which has just sprung up!

　　We should light hope with will and let it shine bright as the flames dance in the wind. Let us hold high the torch of hope, put it at the top of both the Taishan Mountain and the Kunlun Mountain.

　　Melting snow, as the fire of hope burns brighter and brighter, we watch you with a consoling heart. You are the residue of a cold winter that eventually melts and sinks deep into the earth and fills the ditches and pools with dirty water.

　　It is at this moment that our dream of green manifests itself into reality and grows stronger and stronger with each passing day.