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
标签：death, deaths, disease, family, graves, grief, guilt, NPC, obligation, obligations, Pan Xichen, pandemic, people, poetry, silence, speech, spring, time, tombs, 新世纪詩典, 潘洗尘
发表在 2003, 2019, 2020, 20th century, 21st century, Antique times, April 2020, December 2019, February 2020, January 2020, March 2020, May 2020, Middle Ages, NPC, poetry, Translations, Uncategorized, 新世纪诗典 | Leave a Comment »
WHAT COULD ALSO BE SAID
for Günther Grass
why do they print, why do they distribute
what grass has said, weapons for israel
what will they do with german submarines
built for nuclear missiles?
many who grew up beneath those missiles
with fathers who knew or didn’t know
where their fathers went or what they did,
many who grew up under the weapons
they might understand those who are afraid.
grass didn’t say who should bomb whom.
he asked for observation of weapons
and nuclear reactors at the same time.
what are poems for? what is easter for?
what should have been done in 2012?
MW April 2015
标签：bombs, death, easter, Günther Grass, Germany, heritage, history, iran, israel, legacy, life, literature, media, memory, missiles, nuclear reactors, obituaries, obligations, observation, peace, poetry, politics, war, weapons
发表在 April 2012, April 2015, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
