Beijing Is Crying
Written by Cong Rong
Translated from the Chinese by Jami Proctor Xu
Narrated by Jami Proctor Xu
China
Beijing is crying,
crying like a child
I dreamed a dynasty was engraved
on a rectangular wood board: Warring States
When you’re riding a camel, flying toward the colored-glaze world
My hair changes from red to blonde, black to white
As soon as you see me, you remember what you promised me
when Atlantis was sinking
My name is Catherine, Cong Zhen, Abigail, Ekaterina II, Chen Bangyan
We’ve had many children
They’ve buried our old bodies that loved each other numerous times
Remembering our past lives, necks craned, chirping at each other,
sinking into the world life after life
One life, we loved each other as brothers
You fell into the abyss helping me chop wood
I lived in loneliness for years until I died in a temple
Speeding down the highway listening to the heart sutra
In Beijing after the rain tears are like lightning
Atlantis surges up from the bottom of the ocean toward tonight