Chairman Mao: I’ll Never Forget You By Yang Li
The sun dazzles this afternoon
I turn around, walk toward
A massive boulder in the distance
A few girls sitting on the edge
Relaxed
Their colorful clothes
Sparkling
Afternoons like this are rare
As I walk I’m thinking it might rain
Drops of rain will fall on the boulder
Where will the girls go for cover?
But now there’s not even a hint of wind
The sun shines down silently
It’s so beautiful! That boulder
And behind the boulder
In the distance, the dazzling sky
Yang Li, a poet from Chengdu, China, was born in 1961. From “Seeds of Fire: Chinese Voices of Conscience,†edited by Geremie Barme and John Minford (Hill & Wang: 498 pp., $25). Used by kind permission.
