Li Yi
FEAR
In 1950
on the eve of the liberation of Hainan Island
grandpa was still in Wenchang
as a fisherman.
One time
he was out on the sea,
three days and two nights,
without any catch;
hanging his head, going back.
Suddenly
he hauled up
a sea creature just like a human.
Black everywhere all over the body,
darker than Africans,
eyes full of tears.
Grandpa
loosened the net,
let him go.
Coming home,
he told the village what happened;
everyone thought it was a bad omen.
On the same day they beat drums and gongs,
called a meeting,
banishing
grandpa.
He went back to Qiongshan, working the soil.
When I was small,
he told me this story;
he said on this world,
there were not only mer-cows and sea hogs,
there were also mer-people;
everything that lived on the land,
the sea had it all.
In 1966
grandpa was dragged up on the stage;
head smashed, a dozen shovels;
sank into the mud,
could never be found.
15 years ago
I was on the boat
leaving the island.
Stood at the railing,
stared into endless surge all around;
thinking of grandpa,
there was this idea
spinning round in my head.
Under the sea,
do they have also
a tribe of people,
living in fear?
Tr. MW, September 2016
标签： 1966, animals, black, creatures, culture, farming, fear, fishing, Hainan, history, island, Li Yi, liberation, memory, mud, NPC, people, pity, poetry, revolution, science, sea, soil, violence, 新世纪诗典, 李异
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