Refuse Depot (By Yi Sha) Poem by Denis Mair

By Yi Sha
(translated by Denis Mair)

Iron bar at the refuse depot
Peering about in silence
Was sold a little while ago
Unloaded by some punk
At a cheap price.
Iron bar is harder than human bones:
It can't get over being slighted this way.
Moon high tonight over the warehouse,
Iron bar ignorant of escape
Only waits in silence
Waits to be sold more cheaply
Or thrown into a furnace,
Or maybe a thief sneaks in.
This is when it leaps into action,
Iron bar longs to crawl
The way a snake does,
Shakily it crawls to the intersection
Where the old warehouse guard appears.
It wants to strike
Pounce on him crazily
The way a snake wants to pounce on the handler
Who caught it in winter.