Silent Bricks

There will come such a day.

One brick after another,lies under the buildings.They will decide everything.

Trails of moss.They are not just time ageing.

Ants,or some other vermin,visit these silent bricks.They may climb to a certain height,but the height never comes into their vision.

There will come a day when these bricks will determine the shape of the buildings.

Magnificent palaces or humble huts,it’s for these bricks to decide.

What pressure does the superstructure exert?

Bricks keep silent,withstanding the pressure in solitariness.They are tough bones.

They just do not say a word,let alone words of self-importance.

They live their lives steadily,one brick next to another.They are intent on logic,but not emotion.

The wind strikes against the wall,yet the bricks remain silent.The wind blows and blows,and sounds like voicesof history.

On Lotus in Hanjiadang Marsh in Autumn

Withered and yellow leaves in the autumn wind.If they can be compared to a man,the man must have a rich past.

The past of lotus leaves is green and the climax must be the full bloom of lotus.In Hanjiadang Marsh,lotus leaves are seldom in twos and threes,but spread themselves everywhere.Thousands of acres of fertile farmland are the village of my kinsfolk.Vast patches of green are painted at will.About the salt in the sweat and the heaviness in the labor,I will not say a word.Let the countless lotuses narrate with dewdrops.

The lotuses will be in full blossom at least once in a lifetime and so we will forget whatever else hashappened.

Some sighed in front of withered lotuses.They failed to appreciate the calmness of old lotus leaves.When the time comes,the essence reveals itself.

The lotus roots underneath will see light of day right away.

When speaking of lotus in autumn,the protagonists areactually lotus roots in the dark.

Will fair outcomes follow the patience in the mud?

Lotus Root

Easy to be broken,but the clinging fiber remains.

Not suitable for the ground situation.In the mud,in the deep,the lotus roots persist.Just like the final cleanness in the hell.

When talking about things growing in the silt but not corrupted,look closely at lotus flowers.In the short summer,with warm atmosphere,they are shining in the sun.

While underneath,a lotus root bears sufferings patiently.

In cold days,I hope you can forget lotus flowers.

Try to remember a lotus root,remember its persistence in the darkness.

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Zhou Qingrong,born in Xiangshui,Jiangsu Province in 1963,began writing poems in 1984.He has published several collections of prose poems,including Love Is A Moon Tree,Butterflies Unable to Fly Away,Scenic Years,Selected Prose Poems of Zhou Qingrong,Us(Chinese-English bilingual deluxe edition),Man of Ideals,Prophecy,and A Man of Vision.Mr.Zhou is a member of China Writers’Association.He was one of the founders of the We-Beitucheng Prose Poems,a writers’group.He is presently chief editor of Grand Poetry,honorary editor-in-chief of Stars--Prose Poetry,editorial board member of Poetic Tide,adjunctresearch fellow of the Research Center for Chinese Poems of Capital Normal University,and research fellow of the research center for Chinese Prose Poetry of Huzhou University.In 2014,Zhou won the gold prize granted by Poetic Tide,and has got many other such honors as those in the Fourth Chinese Poetry Contest sponsored by Fangcao,in the Second Prose Poetry Contest by Stars,and the Seventh Bingxin Prose Award.

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