Pan Xichen
QINGMING
Why did our ancestors
give today
give our departed
such a pure and clean word?
Could it be? Could what we call
the nether world
actually be more bright and clear?
What I want to say,
on such a particular day:
isn’t it time,
if you have done wrong, to apologize;
or if you haven’t, to grieve in silence?
4/4/20
Translated by MW, May 2020