Bei Xiao Huang (c.1970)

Ferry

• by Bei Xiaohuang


• Chancing to query, I give Baidu.com* a try.
• Just like when lost in the hills, I ask for direction
• from a wrinkled old granny.


• One day, I keyed in “Bei Xiao Huang”^,
• and found a few traces of a man:
• he has the habit of using a green mugwort twig,
• dipping it in the moon-lit brook
• and writing down seductive, inconsequential words.


• Baidu? When will my inquiry
• lead me to my moon maiden, peaceful and tranquil,
• among the rustling reeds at the water’s edge.


• Ferry? There will come a day
• when I arrive at the flowery other shore.
• Will anyone there be gently tapping the keys Bei – Xiao – Huang?
• Like his name, he still lives quietly in the light of the day.

           *a search engine

          ^Bei Xiao Huang, little northern wasteland, the poet’s pen name.

• from 21st Century Chinese Poetry, No. 6