Revering Life

For the Tibetan antelope

I want to apologize to youeven though I don’t knowwhich gunit was that shot youI also want to confirm to youthat I don’t knowwhich bullet it wasthat passed through the blackgun barreland killed your kin

I apologize to youYou’re the true ownersof the Qinghai Tibetan plateauYou’re the supreme soulsof this territoryIt’s because of your existencethat life’s ability to adapttranscends its limitsand transforms a kind of speed into a miracleYou’re the eternal shadowsof the snowy mountain

You’re the silver-white glimmersin the black night above the plainsEach time you migrateis an adventureYou forever standfor courage and freedomin the sun tribe’s family cycle of birth and death

I apologize to youI’m dismayed and ashamedeven though my body has no tracesof your blood stained upon itand I haven’t participatedin any plot or meetingagainst you,but when the truth of realityfinallyappears before the worldI’m ashamedto be humanbecause we knowother animals don’tcreate massacres;rather, they’re created by the maker of all living things—humankind

Forgive meForgive usI apologize to you todayWe can’t do this in anyone else’s nameand we can’t representany living thingson earth other than humansbecause they’re innocent to youApologizing to youis a trial of morality and conscienceWe have no other choice because thisis the only way we have the right to saythat it’s forgivablethat we, as people,live together with youon this land

When we apologize to youwe can only do soin one nameThat is, in the name of peopleor, in the name of humankind