Moon Festival

By Bei Dao b. 1949 Bei Dao

Lovers holding pits in their mouths

make vows and delight in each other

till the underwater infant

periscopes his parents

and is born

an uninvited guest knocks at my

door, determined to go deep

into the interior of things

the trees applaud

wait a minute, the full moon

and this plan are making me nervous

my hand fluttering

over the obscure implications of the letter

let me sit in the dark

a while longer, like

sitting on a friend's heart

the city a burning deck

on the frozen sea

can it be saved? it must be saved

the faucet drip-drop drip-drop

mourns the reservoir

Source: Unlock (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2000)

Biography

Bei Dao is the nom de plume of Zhao Zhenkai, widely considered one of China’s most important contemporary authors. His poems have been translated into more than 30 languages. In English he is represented by numerous collections of poetry, fiction, and essays, including The August Sleepwalker, Old Snow, Unlock, Landscape over Zero, Midnight’s Gate, and Waves, which have been internationally acclaimed for their subtlety, . . .

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