WANG Zang: To My Darling Wife
Translated by Yiyan Han (c) 2023-07-03
Thou are so headstrong, like a hardy goldthread, (*)
to support me a wanderer for my anger, weakness, fear,
wildness, and even embarrassment
Thou endure our earthly apart so that while being apart
the union of our apart body and soul
is made possible, much colourful
We both are fugitives, but nowhere to escape.
This makes the daily mundane rice, oil, salt, sauce
and vinegar look like a romantic dinner plate
Thou seldom express your feelings publicly,
yet you dare hold our children tightly
shout at the cage that cuts us apart, louder than a crow
A poem isn't a chat between thou and I, be serious or frivolous
When thou change a nappy, and I lift the baby,
it's this chat of life that matters
Footnote:
Mr WANG Zang（王藏）is a Chinese poet, film and television screenwriter and painter, human rights defender, and member of the Chinese Free Culture Movement. He was arrested in May 2020 by the Chinese authorities on charges of "inciting subversion of state power". The image is a screenshot of a tweet by his wife Mrs WANG Li（王麗）.
(*) The Chinese goldthread. The speaker likely refers to Coptis teeta, an alpine plant which grows naturely in the shade of cold and damp forests between 1500-2300 meters above sea level in his birthplace, Yunnan.
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