SPRINGTIME
 
Here l am in springtime,my head lowered

Searching for a whiff of green grass, for my mother's shape
in a line of passenger cars, the road ahead beyond foreseeing
Days and hours once swept away...now rise to flood-tide

I cannot stand still 
Of springtime I know too little
Sprouts that will be lowers, rain on swelling buds
Bright dancing shapes amid peals of thunder

I arrive at air-space over my native place
My aging father toils with his own hands
While young people depart for unknown places
Golden rapeseed flowers carpet rolling hills

In these days of springtime I enter the soil deeply
I wish to turn furrows in the soil back home
The scent of plowed soil is no longer familiar 

Scent of growing life, now growing unfamiliar

YEAR'S END

How the road ahead will unfold
You do not have the slightest idea
After the sun sets in the west, in a certain corner
People keep searching for news of the night
New of its coldness
News of feelings

Thereupon

You came, then went away
Your powerless shape
Like a familiar song
Wavers in the wind

The year to come
Is marked with auspicious signs
People foresee the liveliest time imaginable
Rumors circulate of honors
That will soon be yours
Even though you have no idea
How the road ahead will unfold

WATER

only by a sufficient understanding of water
can we grasp the love in which we move and breathe
AS many kinds of water as there are
There are also so many ways of living
Some loves end up being captured
By the watery flow of life

0n the road to the chambers of your heart
I often disguise myself
To converse with old ones of what moves us
But winter is without water
Life in winter is terribly arid
Streams and grasses cannot moan or sing 

My love is in waters of tomorrow
My voice begins in its watery way
To sound its plaint for what is known of you
0 furrows of earth, O countryside

Water looks past many material things
Love looks past many details
When I draw near you
A: lash food blocks the road leading elsewhere
Perhaps we have no other choice

A road goes into water and then dissolves
Like snowflakes falling into water
Like winter melting into spring
Like May setting forth for autumn

Another road leads out of water
Like autumn departing from May
Like spring renouncing winter
Like winter crystallizing snowflakes
Throwing aside boundless love and flowers

SETTING OUT

The road ahead is faintly visible
Time to set out
In the direction of unsure prospects
Time to set out

On the road
We are unable to find that open expanse
Golden ground that never belonged to us
All we can do is set out

The road ahead grows more distinct
You alone are unseen
Many weeping nights and gritty days
You alone are unseen

What else could be as important?
All along the way
I'I try to retrieve your sound like wind-chimes
I will remain mindful of your helplessness

Time to set forth
Only thus can you keep from sanding still
Only by not standing still can you draw near
The expanse of golden ground we have no part in

FUTURE

1 have long kept fear in my heart
My anxious gaze does not stray from the future
Nothing about it is easy to fathom
Our night- time howls are sapped of strength
All that went before
Waits in a hidden valley for our advent

After so many years
Only we keep you company
Lone lamp and wispy smoke cover your visage
A great deal of forest and cold rain
Will appear before you tonight
You will not be alone and helpless
You will join in a dance with the sufferings
Of past and present

My inquiry plunges into the dust
What else but dust particles could hold such stillness?
Are you gone? Have you grown more distant?
Why does fear remain in my heart?

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Yan Zhi , a Chinese poet and novelist. One of the representative poets of the "pan-narrative poetry school" in contemporary poetry.was born on 1 July 1972, in Luotian, Hubei. He started his writing career since 1989, which then published dozens of literary works including Reading the Times, Poems from Tomorrow, to the South of Mountain Dabie, Elegy and Souvenir, the Wondering Kid, Wind Chime, Childhood Birds, Will’s Stories, Wuhan Love Affair. Yan Zhi was awarded in Poetry Award 2008 (first price) launched by POETRY MAGAZINE, Annual Poetry Tides Award 2007, The 2nd Perfect Literature Award launched by Changing Literature & Art, The 2nd Xu Zhimo Literature Award, The 5th Hubei Literature Award, the 8th Qu Yuan Art & Literature Award, 16th Bingxin Children's Literature Award, Japanese Modernism Poetry Award and Korean Youth Literature Award. His works have been translated into various languages inducing English,  French, Japanese, Korean and Mongolian. Yan Zhi founded the magazine, Chinese Poetry in 2008 and has been Editor-in-Chief since then. He launched Annual Wen Yiduo Poetry Award, which has now become the most influential and prestigious awards in for poetry. He also established Wuhan Poetry Festival since 2014.

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