translated from Chinese by Fiona Sze-Lorrain
Rustling in the grass. A little squirrel
hauls a large fluffy tail among twigs and branches
an instantaneous flash. Empty mountain. Birds singing. Flapping feathers
so minute, yet ubiquitous . . . rippling
The heart is a lonely hunter. I like
to pay such a fine visit:
withered grass, breathing, grotto, feathers still with body heat
I like to confirm rich hidden spirits one by one
in this universe. Each
no brighter than a ray of light
but more ancient than mortal hearts
On the way back, a hazel falls from the top, lands with a “thud”
by my feet
I hold it tightly in my palm
until it glows with heat. I know, this is mountain’s
warm, humid gift
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Ye Lijun is an award-winning Chinese contemporary poet and author of the poetry books My Mountain Country, translated by Fiona Sze-Lorrain, Flower Complex, Passing by Thousands of City Lights in Black Night, and Survey. Ye has received several literary honors in China, including the 2007 Poetry Tour Award. Born in 1972 in Lishui, Zhejiang Province to an impoverished rural family, Ye Lijun is a graduate of the Zhejiang Educational Institute for Professional Art Pedagogy and China Academy of Art. She has worked as a junior high school art teacher and arts administrator for intangible cultural heritage. Currently, she resides in her native city Lishui and serves as an editor at Lishui Literature.
Fiona Sze-Lorrain is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Rain in Plural. She is also a zheng harpist and a widely published translator of contemporary Chinese, French, and American poets. She lives in Paris.
“Up the Mountain” was originally published in I Live Here (TLR, Fall 2016).