Hospital Poem by Yang Lian

The lid closes is your face also covered in nails Like constantly being spat upon in a lifetime of humiliation Has bleached this easy death A hand cannot stroke its own pain The darkness of this night is external to you You have rented four thin walls Inside a cardboard carton listening to a river Inside a hollowed out skeleton listening to a storm You wait for the next patient Like another teardrop flying into your eye A piercing scream strikes the streaky glass Becomes a happy shout you savagely hammer at nails