Poems by Wang Jiaxin

wanlixing 2026-06-30

摘要： Wang Jiaxin: poet, critic, and translator, born in 1957 in Danjiangkou City, Hubei Province. He graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Wuhan University and has served as professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Literature, Renmin University of China since 2006. He has published nearly fifty volumes, including poetry collections, poetic essays, literary essays, and translated poetry. His works have been translated into multiple languages and published abroad, including German editions such as "Twilight on Gotland," "Late Offerings," and "Poems from a Diary," Croatian edition "Night Train," Dutch edition "Ashes of Dawn," and English edition "The Darkened Mirror."

Poems by Wang Jiaxin

Translated by John Balcom

Bio of the Author

Wang Jiaxin: poet, critic, and translator, born in 1957 in Danjiangkou City, Hubei Province. He graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Wuhan University and has served as professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Literature, Renmin University of China since 2006. He has published nearly fifty volumes, including poetry collections, poetic essays, literary essays, and translated poetry. His works have been translated into multiple languages and published abroad, including German editions such as "Twilight on Gotland," "Late Offerings," and "Poems from a Diary," Croatian edition "Night Train," Dutch edition "Ashes of Dawn," and English edition "The Darkened Mirror."

Bertolt Brecht

“No need to drive a nail into the wall”*

—that’s what Brecht said.

But we’ve already hammered in so many,

We’ve hung nothing on the wall

Other than a few dark holes.

Someone

Someone talks too much, someone lives in silence

Someone says: “playing a violin in Auschwitz

is just like dancing on a corpse”

Someone’s eyes burn in the dark

But are blinded by bright light