Travel diary Poem by Bei Dao

Before the fire-train enters the forest
The snowstorm in the fire-extinguisher falls asleep
You deign to listen to the past—

Construction sites lit up by lamps:
Hearts cut open in surgery
Someone dingdang hammers away forging iron
So feeble the heart-beat

Bridges jump into the air
Bring news' most seamy angle
To tomorrow's cities

Onward! Plunge into tomorrow
The child's sick-flawed wording
And a star-sky's braille
Waving high in the air youth's white flag
They capture the year's highland

At the terminus you become a father
Striding through open fields
Peaks have turned grey-white since yesterday

Roads turn face about

Translation: Tao Naikan and Simon Patton