Poem: "Thank You Father"

under mao zedong we had starry nights we had vast starry skies people lifting their heads one summer night it was father and i father told me about the universe about a cosmonaut yuri gagarin flying in space my mouth stood open like a barn door thank you, father my heavenly father in a dark corner of north korea measuring 9,600,000 square kilometres among hundreds of millions malnourished blockheads i was the smartest did not see the future but i saw space

2003. Translated from the Chinese by Martin Winter. 

Photo: The landing of the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft on June 26, 2013. Via News.cn.

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