Liu Yawu
Sunlight Hay
Translated from the Chinese by Zhiyuan Mark Ma
This light, pared down by springs and autumns,
is thin and silent. It lays a yellowed mask
upon the faces of all things
We lean against the north wind’s back;
only a small patch of—sunlight hay—
is enough
All afternoon,
in a hushed little grove,
I drifted out twice
Each time for only a few seconds,
sometimes like a newborn infant,
sometimes like a white-haired elder
Liu Yawu is a Chinese poet. He was born in Yuexi, Anhui province, and now lives in Kunshan, China.
Zhiyuan Mark Ma (马志远) is a bilingual poet and translator in Chinese and English.