Translated from Chinese by Jeffrey Thomas Leong
My petition denied already half a year with no further news.
Who knew that today, I would be deported back
to Tang Mountain?
At mid-ship, I’ll suffer waves, and pearl-like tears will fall.
On a clear night, three times I’ll find the bitterness hard to bear.
清 船 誰 批
夜 中 知 消
三 捱 今 半
思 浪 日 載
苦 珠 撥 無
難 淚 回 消
堪 落 唐 息
。 ； ？ ；
Jeffrey Thomas Leong
Jeffrey Thomas Leong is an American poet and writer. For two decades, he worked as a public health administrator and attorney for the City of San Francisco. He earned his MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and while there, began a project to translate the Chinese wall poems at the Angel Island Immigration Station. His book of translations, Wild Geese Sorrow, was published by Calypso Editions in 2018. Jeff’s new chapbookWrit from Eastwind Books of Berkeley fully imagines the Angel Island detainee experience. He lives with his wife and daughter near Oakland, CA.
