A Poem

Sequel to a Legend

There is already a legend about us
on the ancient urn
but you still keep on asking
if it is worth it
of course fire can be extinguished by the wind
and a mountain peak might fall down at dawn
and melt into a funereal night's river
the bitter fruits of love
will drop when they ripen
here and now
as long as we have the setting sun to crown us
everything that follows after
counts for nothing
-- the endless night
a moment of tossing and silence


Bei Dao
from The August Sleepwalker (New Directions Press)