The Map Home

05.2010“The Map Home” won May Poetry Challenge

The Map Home

Around the globe, you search
for two dots, connected
by a flight line. Distance
becomes a long string
to knot nostalgia;
fingers nudge a blue
sphere – home beckons
like an aching moon.

Your son asks
to map the family tree.
You surprise him, draw
concentric circles. Your pen drifts,
traces solar systems,
that revolve around the same point –
That’s our home!

Laughing at your crazy map,
your son prunes the growing tree.
He does not see
rings rippling across
your night river,
and leaves fall to roots.

回家的地图

围绕地球仪,
你搜索着 两个点,
由一条 飞行路线连接。
距离 成为一条长长的丝线
编织着浓浓的乡愁;
你的手指轻推
蓝色球体故乡
是挂在天上的一轮明月
伤痛地召唤。

儿子邀你 绘制家谱树。
你画着一个个同心圆,
让他很是诧异。
你的笔漂移,勾画出
太阳星系的轮廓,
它们都围绕同一点:
这就是我们的家园!

嬉笑你疯狂的绘图,
儿子裁剪延伸的家谱树。
他没有注意到
年轮涟漪着
夜色下的河流,
而叶子
落下
聚拢在根底。

both versions (chinese and english)

Great Wall & other poems (published in ChinaDaily.net )

Great Wall :  http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/2007-04/19/content_854588.htm

长城 http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/2007-02/07/content_803210.htm

情人节 http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/2007-02/09/content_805742.htm

The Farewell Symphony

The autumn sky is blue and clear,
Out in wild fields reeds stretch.
Birdcalls fade in thin branches,
Rivers silently gather fallen leaves.

Shadows grow taller;
Hills mute in their shattered hues.
Winds spiral in deep valleys,
whose home , candles still beckon?

Soon snow will blank et everything below;
wild geese glance back and take off.
Their raucous echoes fall,
then drown and drown
pale in ebbs.

中文朗诵,请听
http://www.coviews.com/viewtopic.php?p=157339#157339

告别交响曲

——听海顿故事和他的同名交响曲有感

告别交响曲
——听海顿故事和他的同名交响曲有感

秋季的天空明朗浅蓝,
芦苇野旷里高高地挺立。
而鸟声渐弱, 树枝稀疏,
河流默然承接着叶落。

远处的影子更深更长,
散碎的色调中,山川无声无息。
深谷里,风不断地盘旋 ,
谁家的烛光还在远远召唤?

雪不久会覆盖地面的一切,
大雁回望中开始飞行。
它们嘈杂的叫声落下,
淹没,退潮中一片苍白。

创作灵感

这首诗歌是我根据奥地利作曲家海顿的同名曲《告别交响曲》而作。

海顿作这首乐曲时有个真实的故事。当时海顿以及其他乐团友随王子每个夏季到夏宫演奏, 但他们的家人不能一起同去,只有等到秋天王子回来时,他们才能与家人团聚。所以当某一个秋天到来,王子还不想离去,乐队团友着急回家, 所以请团长海顿想办法.

喜欢幽默的海顿写了这曲《告别交响曲》的演奏过程通过音乐节奏的变化和器乐的一个个离场,来提醒王子,该回去了……

我听了这个故事和乐曲, 想到自然的一些变化, 秋退冬来, 叶落鸟飞等肃穆景象…… 以此来比拟和反映自然界的“告别交响曲”。

My first CBC Radio Interview -Toronto, No More Weeping

Anna Yin was interviewed by Alan Neal. CBC Radio 1. It played on Ontario Today program at noon on Dec 06 2005.

Chinese version is here

Toronto, No More Weepingcandle

(in memory of Cecilia Zhang)
By Anna Yin
I dream of you in crimson,
morning sun blazing in its glory,
maple leaves flaming on the skyline;

Through silvery threads you are sailing,
sheer wings gliding upon the crescent,
with drizzle drifting in its glowing.

The city below railed off by yellow ribbons,
streets inside muted in cold reminiscence.
The slim buildings huddle in silence,
as crowds hunt for evidence.

They spin their wheels to chase you,
plough shadows of each angle.
Your smiling posters traverse the entire city
carried by the heartbroken.

The coming spring is very cold,
even as chilly as the breaking news.
Candles and cards confide our yearning
wish for you to reside in peace in heaven.

You ride on a rainbow to my dream,
pour soft light upon my poem.
Starlets gleaming in your eyes,
rise up in primal unison.

Whirlwinds brush away my tear,
streams moisten my tone.
The angel, a presence very near,
walks you into the eternal heaven.

Breezes wave their rustle.
Beaches cradle their ocean.
Where you lay shall burst into rich blossoms.
Whom you suffered by, shall pay for the crime.

May winds bring in your fragrance.
May birds sing in your tune.
May loved ones weave your dreams.
May the homeless find your lantern.

I paint my dream with each line,
and hone the blues off my mind.
My voices echo with tsunami howling,
“Toronto, no more weeping!”