by Zhu Xiao Di
Strings, how long have you been
Waiting for bow’s blow
The moment of electric shock
Brings out mountains and seas
Everything is inside you
But without that magical trigger
All potential is just a lonely default
Bow, how badly you have been searching
For a place that releases life for you
Before finding it, you lay there dead as a log
So much energy has been stored in your belly
Wait for lightning and thunder to pour down
When the wakening moment arrives
You jump to dance, and forget yourself
弓和弦
琴弦，你等了多久
等待弯弓一击
那触电的瞬间
排山倒海
一切原本全储内心
但若没有那神奇的一触
所有潜力都只是孤单的预设
弯弓，你一直在苦苦寻找
释放你生命的地方
在此之前，你垂死有如一根朽木
但你满腹积蓄势能
等待电闪雷鸣倾盆而泻
那苏醒的一刻来临
你翩翩起舞，忘记了自己
Zhu Xiao Di is the author of Thirty Years in a Red House (memoir), Tales of Judge Dee (novel), Leisure Thoughts on Idle Books (essays in Chinese), and some poems lately at Blue Unicorn, Eratio, Eunoia Review, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, The Beatnik Cowboy, and WestWard Quarterly. He contributes to Father: Famous Writers Celebrate the Bond Between Father and Child (anthology).