Prague
(TRANSLATED BY Clayton Eshleman & Lucas Klein)
Swarming country moths assault the city
street lamps, spectral faces
long, slender legs holding up the night sky
There are specters, there is history
unmarked on the map a subterranean vein
is the thick nerve of Prague
Kafka's youth passed through the square
dreams are cutting class, dreams
are the stern father sitting in the clouds
There is a father, there are rights of inheritance
a rat is wandering the palace halls
attendants in the shadows a bustling entourage
A carriage setting out from the century's gate
turns into a tank midway
truth is selecting its enemies
There is truth, there is forgetting
a drunk quivering like a stamen in the breeze
shaking off the curse of dust
Traversing the bridge of time over the Vltava
River, entering the daylit glare
the ancient statues are full of enmity
There is enmity, there is splendor
a vendor mysteriously unfolds a swatch of velvet
please purchase this fine weather gathered by pearls.
— FORTHCOMING IN BEI DAO'S NEW BOOK
Endure (Black Widow Press, 2011)