by Yi Sha
(translated by Denis Mair)
Artillery shell shoots into barrel
Words withdraw into tip of pen,
Snowflakes flurry from the ground,
Daylight speeds to meet the sun,
River flows back to source,
Train hides in tunnel,
Ruins stand up as tall building,
Machine dismembers into parts,
Child crawls into womb,
Pedestrians get fewer on the street,
Leaves leap onto branches,
Teenage suicide jumps to her balcony,
Missing person jumps down from “Missing Person” poster,
Hand reaching toward someone goes back in pocket,
Bride runs out of honeymoon suite,
And is a virgin in love for the first time,
The boy gets more innocent,
Sucks a rubber nipple thicker than a cigarette,
And she will come back
Backing down the road,
Back into my little room,
I’ll flee from the bleak, cold station,
Go back to the classroom,
With a red bandana round my neck,
Standing at attention, doing lessons
Not missing a day, learning as I should
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