Perhaps I’ve Never Forgotten

For my birthplace and my childhood

I’ve had many dreamsI dream most often of Zhaojue,the small town where I grew upMy childhood was carefreeDeep in the mountains, I sawthe seasons’ mystical changesAll living things between earth and skyquietly changed their forms of lifeIn those endless fieldsdragonfly wings were transparent as silverWhen night’s curtain fellI lay alone on the highlands,without language, without ideas,and without thoughtsOnly breath and life sinkingbetween time and the cosmosI seemed to have become aware of death quite youngbut blessings of eternity and hopefilled my heart with gratitude for lifeWho can imagine how radiantmy childhood wasPerhaps I’ve never forgottenthe promise I made alone under a starry sky:to be a poet faithful to my cultureand a poet of conscienceI would even dare to say: this was the prelude to everything