This early spring I went to work at a private school
The school is in a remote suburb
Every morning I have to get up early to take a bus
It is still dark
Street lights are sleeping in the slow wind
The streets seem cleaner than in the daytime
A few elders dressed in very little
Are slowly jogging on the streets
White steam rises from their heads and out of their mouths
As if they are the real masters of the city
It reminds me that I haven’t seen a morning for a very long time
I realize what I have been distanced from these days.
On the bus I put on my headphones,
Listen to Kitaro and Paul Simon
The morning light emerges
Buildings and the shadows of trees quickly slide past
The sun suddenly appears right in front of me
This moment is hard to describe
As if the volume on my headphones suddenly got very loud
The instruments and voices bellowing together
The loudest is the sun in the front
I finally had a morning with a sunrise
The whole day I will spend with children in the warmth.
* Li Wei is a poet living in Tianjin, translated by CDT.
Photos by redheart:
Listen Here, a song from Cui Jian‘s Album “Traveler’s Back“
