Bei Dao

BLACK MAP
.
Coldcrow jackdaws piece themselves
Into night: black map
I’ve come back—return journeys
Always take longer than wrong turnings—
Longer than a lifetime

Put on winter’s heart
When springwater and pills of honey
Become night’s speech
When memory barks rabidly
Rainbows come and go in black markets

Small as a bead, Father’s life fire
I am his echo
Turning a corner to keep an appointment
A lover from old days hides in the wind
Revolving with faith-letters

Beijing, let me
Drink a toast with all your lights
Let my white hairs lead the way
Crossing the black map
Ushering you like a windstorm into flight

I queue till I come to that small window
Closed: o silver Moon
I’ve come back—there are always
Fewer reunions than partings
But only by one