We (By Li Yawei) Poem by Denis Mair

by Li Yawei
(translated by Denis Mair)

by Li Yawei

Our camels are losing shape, our caravan becomes unreal
Whichever way you figure, we're an argumentative crowd
Crossing deserts, fording streams, going to get some culture
Refracted by mirage onto a seashore
Our faces are ordinary, easy to forget and to caress
Once all swallowed up in feeling, now resolving out of contradictions
Good fortune is concerned with goals and finds companions
To ride in a wagon that goes out searching

We are flowers of a time of life, bunched into a wreath
Learning and making confusion for each other
Extending along the growth of vines, under leadership many times
That made us into crowds or passers-by
Disappearing on the desert, refracted to the shore
Three years past we were raising hell and getting married
Aboard boats we were coming, plotting a life-death course, plumbing philosophy
Like a sharp blade through bamboo
We grasped the key point, crossed snowy mountains and holy rivers
We came over the ocean, all set to solve our housing problem
We came over the desert to do something about food and clothing
We came from two sides, knocking at a border gate to ask about taboos
Passing through winter and iceblocks, into a skin's fine texture
Gripping hopeless instruments, organs of suspiration
Comprehending, and getting to the heart of it

From directions of labor and harvest we came
From the seed side and the fruit side we came
By way of self-study, to be among the people
Our camels were reflected onto an island, the shadow of our tiller was cast into a book
To become phenomena, ethereal shapes
One taking place of another, imagining each other
Proceeding straight ahead, finding form in logic
We summed up our inquiries and developed toward another front
Crossing small rivers, marshes and onto a main road
With pattern of branches fixed in our hearts, we were miles off the subject

From directions of food and clothing we come to the city
From good side and bad side we come onto the street
With fine-chiseled features, when we meet yelling "Let's have a drink! "
Regretting we met so late, we are bunched together by marriage
And divided by technology
Three years of rewarming the past to learn anew, throwing ourselves into love
In new places disappearing, then back to the old to make our pleas
Three years later we go westward through the pass, running ahead of our knowledge
Causing the streets to be crowded, the definitions to shift
Whatever you think about it, we have grown many, we cannot diminish

From directions of the one and the divided we come, carrying poetry books and daggers
As soon as we meet love reduces us by one
Passing through a city of towers, shapes are cast onto the shore, never to return

From directions of the one and the divided we come again
Working hard at our studies, spitting blood in our teens
Conscientious, strong-willed, bursting with talent
Delving often into philosophy and fertility, smacking a stone with eggs

From the seed side and the fruit side we come to a village
Exchanging our insights and giving encouragement
From directions of selling and buying we come to a market town
In the exchange disappearing, turning into pearls
Into her embroidered kerchief, as she streaks ahead of her husband
Who was given her first love and remembrance
Ring of horses hitched to a water wheel, just so far apart
We choose people by their looks

From the surface we come
In modes of warp and woof we are suddenly enwoven
We throw ourselves into textile-making, giving shape to stitchwork patterns, raise our heads and there is love
In fine-embroidered clothes we throw ourselves into the revolution and run into leaders again
We go into circulation, cross over borders, and earn back one of ourselves
It is dreams that have us, there is no substance or its opposite
Whichever way you figure, all are figures in imagination
On the outside walking, yet precisely corresponding to inner being