Mirror Image
In 2015, Bai Hua wrote this poem in response to 'Evening' by Simon Armitage, who is now UK poet laureate and Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds. The original poem is reprinted below, with the kind permission of the author.
The English translation is by Austin Woerner, Emily Xinyao Lei, and Zheng Wanqi.
Mirror Image
In my country, mirror and lamp have long captured image and form
And the painful bewilderment of a child who ran away from home
He was too ashamed to face it, till one day
a grown-up love captivated his gaze: how happy
was the adult who climbed the winter of 1963!
He went to his brother's for dinner, his form dwindling from sight
The child, watching, got no dinner – yet still he was happy
Because no one saw him watching, and he felt safe
In truth, the world didn't care whether he existed
The day gets darker, the house gets brighter
I won't be long, I won't go far
Like that British fellow? I head back home
and when I turn on the light, what do I see in the mirror?
The child 'me' never existed
Which one is the 'me' right now?
–22 January, 2015
Evening
by Simon Armitage
You're twelve. Thirteen at most.
You're leaving the house by the back door.
There is still time. You've promised
not to be long, not to go far.
One day you'll learn the names of the trees.
You fork left under the ridge,
pick up the bridleway between two streams.
Here is Wool Clough. Here is Royd Edge.
The peak still lit by sun. but
evening. Evening overtakes you up the slope.
Dusk walks its fingers up the knuckles of you spine.
Turn on your heel. Back home
Your child sleeps in her bed, too big for a cot.
Your wife makes and mends under the light.
You're sorry. You thought
It was early. How did it get late?
(c) Simon Armitage, originally published in Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid (Faber and Faber, 2006)
About the translators
Austin Woerner is a Creative Fellow in Chinese-English literary translation at the University of Leeds.
Emily Xinyao Lei is an alumna of the MA in English Literature course at the School of English, University of Leeds.
Zheng Wanqi is an MA student currently enrolled in the English Literature course at the School of English, University of Leeds.