Meeting with the Same River

Bai Helin (translated by Ouyang Yu)

In the spring I met with the afternoon of the same river

When I found that the sorrow inside its body

And the hidden language of its gestures

Were surprisingly similar to someone else’s tragedy

 

Once I went so far as to open my mouth and speak the dead’s secrets

In summer or even when it was colder

I kept silent or when I walked alone on the bank

The person who liked swimming at night

Acted the way a bird did in the water

 

On many occasions I go upstream along the river in search of a shoe

Because no one understands how to talk with the river

A lone snow crane on the water does not know whether to step forward or backwards