Autumn in the Extreme
Autumn is still
as a thinker who is tired
of thought. But who goes on
silently, painfully
thinking.
Autumn is clean
as a lamb standing at the end
of the steppe. So helpless
and pure that the sky
bends down.
Soughing leaves pour from the branches.
A requiem from a broken
guitar. For life, thought
is another way of taking pity.
Fortunately, when autumn comes,
the seasons, like a body,
begin to experience a bit of the soul.
Autumn makes us remember something, makes us want
to speak. Trees tremble, as if they could keep
something from leaving, though they just get
barer by the day.
Autumn is a mirror. Holding it I fall
into introspection, mumbling
a halting prayer for the soul that cannot be seen.
April 1992
About the translators
Austin Woerner is a Creative Fellow in Chinese-English literary translation at the University of Leeds.
Shayne Ian Man Ut is a student currently enrolled in the Conference Interpeting and Translations Studies MA course at University of Leeds.