In England

After church spires and city chimneys sink beneath the horizon,
England's sky is gloomier than lovers' whispers.
Two blind accordion players, heads bowed, pass by.

Without farmers there would be no vespers.
Without gravestones, no declaimers.
Two rows of new-sown apple trees stab at my heart.

My wings brought me fame. England
made me reach the place where I am lost.
Memory sustains, but no longer digs furrows.

My address: shame. All England
and not a woman who can't kiss. All England
cannot contain my pride.

In the dirt under my nails I recognize
my homeland - mother
sealed neatly in a parcel, posted far away.

 

1989-90
DUO DUO

(tr. By Lee Robinson and Yu Li Ming)
Duo Duo (ps. For Li Shizhen), born in Peking 1951, lives since the student uprising in exile. He belongs to the so called "lost generation". He is often participating at international poetry festivals. His poetry collections have been published in several languages, such as English, German, Italian and Dutch..