Poem by Bei Dao

Translated by Eliot Weinberger and Iona Man-Cheong

Bio of the Author:

   Bei Dao (pen-name of Zhao Zhenkai） emerged as the most influential representative of  "Misty" or Obscure Poetry School in the late 1970s. He co-founded the literary magazine Today. He has lived and worked in England, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, France, and the United States. Later he was Professor of Humanities at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Ramallah

in Ramallah

the ancients play chess in the starry sky

the endgame flickers

a bird locked in a clock

jumps out to tell the time

in Ramallah

the sun climbs over the wall like an old man

and goes through the market

throwing mirror light on

a rusted copper plate

in Ramallah

gods drink water from earthen jars

a bow asks a string for directions

a boy sets out to inherit the ocean

from the edge of the sky

in Ramallah

seeds sown along the high noon

death blossoms outside my window

resisting, the tree takes on a hurricane's

violent original shape

Click to read the Chinese version