Gawdeepah by Sheena: Faved!: Xi Chuan's The Other Side of the ...

Translated by Lucas Klein

On the other side of the river

there is a flame

a flame

burning May

burning August

when the pagoda tree blooms, the professor with lentigo bows to her

when orange blossoms fall, an heir of graceful demeanor waves to her

and smiles

yet on the other side of the river she remains, still burning

like the underwater glistening of red coral

like a red straw hat blown away in the breeze

when I saw her yesterday she was totally still, looking to the sky

and today she lowers her head to watch the river

if it were overcast and raining, what would she do there on that side

of the river?

—her flame would not go out

a poet looks to her

a farmer looks to her

a Dialectical Materialist looks to her

she is on the other side of the river, burning

burning May

burning August