Chun Jiang (Spring River)

Chun Jiang (Spring River)

in the original Chinese

The river banks are turned to parks
"for the ducks' convenience."
The park grows wider every day
while the river always narrows.
As the tourists increase
the ducks diminish.
These ducks aren't prophets,
and might not sense the warming water.
A river’s pollution
still kills them with the same swift violence.

Translated by Paul Welch
"Chun Jiang (Spring River)" is from Selected Poems of Wind Lynn (The Milky Way Publishing Co., 2004).