Wake Up Like an Infant

image borrowed from flickr

WAKE UP LIKE AN INFANT

Well-digger, come here,
Let go of yourself,
Wake up like an infant,
One more streak of clear water in sewage.


Water-fetcher, come here,
Let go of me and you.

Wake up like an eye,
Once again, an artesian well lifted high,
Between the legs, set dankness to work
From, dank greenery all around.

Hemmed in,
This overly concrete—
Mood of rushing into death's arms;
Mouthwise,
Just as in love.


All around, rapt intrigue of water,
Goes deep into soil.

Che Qianzi

translated from the Chinese by Denis Mair.

Posted over on Poems and Poetics