“p>When I was small,
Nostalgia was a tiny postage stamp,
I, on this side,
My mother, on the other.Later on,
Nostalgia was a low tomb,
I, outside.
My mother, inside.And now,
Nostalgia is the coastline, a shallow strait.
I, on this side,
The mainland, on the other.”
"Nostalgia" (《乡愁》, "Xiangchou"), in The Isle Full of Noises: Modern Chinese Poetry from Taiwan, ed. and trans. Dominic Cheung (New York: Columbia University Press, 1987), p. 51
Original
小时候，乡愁是一枚小小的邮票，我在这头，母亲在那头。 长大后，乡愁是一张窄窄的船票， 我在这头，新娘在那头。 后来啊，乡愁是一方矮矮的坟墓，我在外头，母亲在里头。 而现在，乡愁是一湾浅浅的海峡，我在这头，大陆在那头。
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Yu Kwang-chung 2
Taiwanese poet 1928–2017Related quotes
“Sharp nostalgia, infinite
And terrible, for what I already possess!”
Nostalgia aguda, infinita,
terrible, de lo que tengo.
"South", in Poesía, en verso, 1917–1923 (1923), p. 97.
“Nostalgia is an illness
for those who haven't realized
that today
is tomorrow's nostalgia.”
"Déjà Views", in Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye (1989), p. 112
Source: Embassytown (2011), Chapter “Formerly, 1” (p. 53)
"Transhuman FM-2030" http://www.transhuman.org/transhumanfm-2030.htm, transhuman.org
Quote from: http://nymag.com/arts/art/features/47184/index3.html
undated quotes
Source: From Time to Time (1995), Chapter 4 (p. 58)
Context: I hate that word. You know who uses it mostly? Time patriots. Same people who live in the best country in the world. Must be the best because that’s where they live. And they live in the best of times; has to be best because it’s their lifetime. You even suggest there just might have been better times than here and now, and it’s ‘nostalgia, nostalgia.’ Don’t even know what the word means. Means overly sentimental, for crysakes.