by Kwan Tin Lam, translated from the Chinese by Eleanor Goodman

DECEMBER 12, 2018

In the end it was
freedom approaching
in the end it was
exorbitant wounds

cloud of today
criminal of tomorrow
shining into street corners
two lamps during the lean years

fading memories
in the end it was
brambles to obliterate tears
in the end it was

2018年12月12日

原來是
漸近的自由
原來是
高昂的傷口

今天的雲
明日的罪人
照入街角
兩盞凶年的燈

漸暗的記憶
原來是
剪淚的荊棘
原來是

 

Kwan Tin Lam 關天林 (author) was born in Hong Kong in 1984. He is chief editor of literature magazine Zihua. As a poet, he had won Youth Literary Award and University Chinese Literary Award. He had published two poetry collections and the first one won the Commendation Award of the 13th Hong Kong Biennial Awards for Chinese Literature.

Eleanor Goodman (translator) is the author of the poetry collection Nine Dragon Island (2016), and the translator of Something Crosses My Mind: Selected Poems of Wang Xiaoni (2014), Iron Moon: An Anthology of Chinese Workers Poetry (2017), The Roots of Wisdom: Poems by Zang Di (2017), and Days When I Hide My Corpse in a Cardboard Box: Poems of Natalia Chan (2018). She is a Research Associate at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University.