Human knowledge is stretching ever further. But there are many things which lie beyond our knowledge. This is because, when discussing the creative work of poets throughout human history, the world of the mind transcends nationality. Poetry is even today not open, and the world is as it was before.

Like music and fine art, the secrets of poetry cannot directly be penetrated through the aural or through the visual. Because poetry is speech made visible, in order to make it available, we need to translate it. Even to attempt the translation into another language of a poem, which has been formed in the poet’s individuality and which moves to the melodic and rhythmic qualities of its original language, is almost impossible. But poetry is a special way of looking at the world, and it is impossible for human beings fully to grasp the value of their own cultures. Today, then, we have an abundant store of poetry from all over the world, and so in the future we will achieve which we once saw as being “almost impossible”.

Mongolians are a people with a particular concept of poetry, and a rich and broad poetic heritage, stretching from couplets of two words to epics of 20,000 lines. Regrettably, Mongolian poetry has been translated very little into foreign languages. In particular, translations into English are as rare as a star in daytime. Although I could offer an explanation for this, I will refrain in my introduction from such things, and introduce this new book, in which a sample is presented from the rich heritage of Mongolian poetry.

In the autumn of 2005, an email arrived on my desk from England. A young man named Simon Wickham-Smith had written that he had translated into English the poems of the nineteenth century Mongolian Renaissance man, Danzanravjaa. This first indication from the west of an interest in Mongolian poetry was the beginning of something great. I established a rapport with Simon via email, answering his requests for explanations of specific words. And so, one year ago, around 15000 lines of Danzanravjaa’s poetry was published in English translation. We invited Simon to the 26th World Congress of Poets, which was held in Mongolia during the autumn of 2006. From the annals of Mongolian poetry, we published both the collection of Danzanravjaa’s poetry, Perfect Qualities, as well as a selection of Mongolian poetry called Ancient Splendor. This latter book was a joint translation, by Simon and a Mongolian translator, Tsog Shadgarsüren, and it was presented as a s gift to the delegates at the World Congress. Tsog and Simon had published Mongolian poetry for the entire English speaking world and, in so doing, these two friends had together made inroads into the world of literature. But the road through the world is an uncertain one and, in November 2006, Tsog reached the end of his journey. Simon and I have worked together on this book, The Best of Mongolian Poetry, in Ulaanbaatar and, in offering it to our readers, would like to dedicate it as a memorial to the translator Tsog Shagdarsüren.

My good friend Simon Wickham-Smith is one of the first foreigners to have swum so deeply into the world of Mongolian literature and its poetry. Thinking now about how he managed so deeply to study the Mongolian language, I find it both rare and precious. Sometimes, he asks only about a single word. His questions even give me pause for thought. For such a gifted translator to have come to Mongolian poets, I believe, fills Heaven with joy.

For this collection of the best Mongolian poems we have sourced texts from far back as from the ancient songs of Khünnü, as well as from the poems of contemporary Mongolian poets. It has not been possible to include here examples of the highly significant epic poetry, and it will require further time to translate more of the very best work of certain poets.

That said, the traversing by poets of the nomadic mind of the Mongolian people, which constitutes the wonderful work in this new book, will entertain and profoundly enrich the journey of your own mind.

Simon and I have worked together in selecting these poems - although how could a selection be expected to include the full extent of Mongolian poetry? Nonetheless, there are some wonderful poets whose work has been translated here. Work of this caliber requires many years of tireless labor. I should also add that the original text of Ancient Splendor has herein been revised and improved and that the insight we have gained has been quickly incorporated. With this in mind, we have made our book easier for the impatient reader and we guarantee that, trusting in the readers’ good will, our work will continue.

A final word about etymology. In the Mongolian language there is a root, orch. From this word is derived the word orchlong. Orchlong denotes the world, or galaxy. And then there is the word orchikh. For Mongolians, orchikh is concerned with the turning of the mind, and of the sky and the stars and the planets. The Mongolian elders explain the word orchuulakh as being the work of turning one language into another, and of the rotation of the stars and the planets. To understand how these words relate to one another is to understand the earth. To Simon and Tsog, who managed to complete this difficult work, as though translating the heavenly bodies from one sky of human culture into another sky, let us send the rich flowers from the sky of Mongolian poetry.

I hope that you will agree that, from the many stars appearing in the sky of Mongolian poetry, we are led further into the sky of our own minds, and into the minds of others.

G Mend-Ooyo

Ulaanbaatar

June 6th 2007