Beyond

BEYOND

A bottled up storm commands
the sea advancing
beyond the dock,
on a night afloat with insomnia
lovers embracing link up chains of power
beyond the painting’s frame,
classically smiling plaster statues
use a single day’s shadows to speak
beyond belief,
stallions have caught up with death
relentlessly the moon stamps its seal
on black events beyond the story,
a plastic tree flaps in the breeze
this dismal grain is the excuse
for our existence


Bei Dao

Posted over on Poems & Poetics

Translation from Chinese by Clayton Eshleman & Lucas Klein