Page 188 - 旷野诗选
P. 188
旷野诗选
Wilderness Anthology
Ancient Salt-making Way
Reclaim a place to build up canals and ditches,
the sea tide poured to bring in precious current.
Evaporate under blazing sun by spreading plant ashes,
to get thick brine once sea water would irrigate.
Stone-made lotuses can test the density of purity.
It’s for boiling by chopping off and carrying firewood.
Fry the brine to form salt when it’s heated properly,
white granules obtained after plant ashes pushing aside.
With a whiff of the white, any food would be served to eat.
With more than common need, decomposition can be prevented.
If anyone lives without saltiness would be useless in fact,
the value of life is dedicating life even not to be rewarded.
Salt is as exquisite as shimmering crystal snowflake in winter,
one cannot dodge the test as gold in furnace many times, either.
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?”
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