孫中山 七言絕句 (1) 頂天立地奇男子，要把乾坤扭轉來。To stop m'country falling into fire from the frying pan

孫中山 七言絕句 (1): 
... 頂天立地奇男子，要把乾坤扭轉來。


其一: 【詠志】 孫中山

萬象陰霾掃不開，
紅羊劫運日相催。
頂天立地奇男子，
要把乾坤扭轉來。



YONG ZHI ("Sing Aloud My Resolve!")
-- by SUN YAT-SEN (1866 – 1925)
-- Translated by Frank C Yue

Away, O oppressing myriad Darkness cannot be swept!
The coming Red Ram disaster who could e'er intercept?
To stop m'country falling into fire from the frying pan,
To switch the Cosmic Plan requires a very unique man!


Translator's Notes:　

1. The Poem: known as the 'Revolution Song' 革命歌 or 'Uprising Song' 起義歌, was widely sung and used by the underground revolutionaries 革命義士 as a password.

2. This was composed in 1899, three years after (孫中山 倫敦蒙難) Sun Yat-sen's being kidnapped and held by the Qing dynasty's secret agents in London's China embassy, pending shipment back to Peking for certain execution. 

3. a brief explanation of '紅羊劫運' on line 2 will be in order:

“紅羊” 典故﹕

南宋理宗時，算命先生 柴望 上書朝廷，提請每逢丙午、丁未年，國家必有禍患。(天干 “丙” “丁” 和 地支 “午” 在五行屬火，為紅色，而地支 “未” 生肖是羊，每六十年出現一次的 “丙午丁未之厄”，被後人稱為 “紅羊劫”。南宋 “靖康之恥” 就發生在 “丙午”（1126)年。

On the other hand, regarding line 2 of Sun Yat-sen's above poem '紅羊' in '紅羊劫運日相催':
it might be interpreted that <不過，孫中山這裡卻是反其意而用之，以 “紅羊” 諧音太平天國領袖 “洪(秀全)”、“楊(秀清)”，宣稱革命的時機就要到來了，清朝的劫運就要到來了。孫中山曾說：“洪秀全是反清第一英雄，我是第二。” > (... from the net: <原作者：毛翰，發表于長沙《書屋》雜誌> )