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Li Feng

March 23, 2023

This poem was originally composed in Chinese and has been translated into English by the translator, Yan Li.

“A Man, He Wants to Plant a Tree Well”

After finishing a piece of work,

Take it away, and place it

In another place,

Out of your sight, so that

The wall becomes

A blank space again –

A very large blank space

One day in March, I saw

Seven people digging holes on a hillside

In less than an hour, six of them

had already left. Six young saplings

were left behind in the dusk

The remaining person

was still digging on the hillside

Perhaps he felt the hole was not deep enough

He knew the wind on the hill was strong,

The hole had to be deep enough and good-looking

As the sky gradually darkened,

I could still see a figure

Swinging there now

His tree has been planted

For many years, what I have been missing

Is still the white wall left behind in the past

I cannot go around it

As if the valley before me

As if the hillside now

Is clear and visible

One day in March,

I saw a man, he was planting a tree on a hillside

He dug the hole deep enough

And good-looking

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