Bei Dao is another name for Zhifu Island.Bei Dao is the pen name of the Chinese poet Zhao Zhenkai . He was born in Beijing and has acquired American citizenship. He chose the pen name because he came from the north and because of his preference for solitude. Bei Dao is the most notable representative of the Misty Poets, a group of Chinese poets who reacted against the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution.
“a perpetual stranger
am I to the world
I don't understand its language
my silence it can't comprehend”
"A perpetual stranger...", p. 110
Variant translation:
In the world I am
Always a stranger
I do not understand its language
It does not understand my silence
The August Sleepwalker (1990)
“I am no hero
In an age without heroes
I just want to be a man”
"Declaration", p. 62
The August Sleepwalker (1990)
"The Answer" https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/50088/the-answer-56d22cd8d69d0, p. 33 <br class="br">The August Sleepwalker (1990)
“we are not guiltless
long ago we became accomplices
of the history in the mirror”
"Accomplices", p. 89
The August Sleepwalker (1990)
“Freedom is nothing but the distance
between the hunter and the hunted”
"Accomplices", p. 89
The August Sleepwalker (1990)
"Declaration", p. 62
The August Sleepwalker (1990)
