History & Politics
A Political Prisoner Listening to a Cicada
Translated by Witter Bynner and Kiang Kang-hu (1929) · From The Jade Mountain (1929)
While the year sinks westward, I hear a cicada
Bid me to be resolute here in my cell,
Yet it needed the song of those black wings
To break a white-haired prisoner's heart. . . .
His flight is heavy through the fog,
His pure voice drowns in the windy world.
Who knows if he be singing still? —
Who listens any more to me?
Cite this poem
MLA
Ping-wang, Lo. “A Political Prisoner Listening to a Cicada.” Translated by Witter Bynner and Kiang Kang-hu. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/lo-ping-wang/0/.
Chicago
Ping-wang, Lo. “A Political Prisoner Listening to a Cicada.” Translated by Witter Bynner and Kiang Kang-hu. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/lo-ping-wang/0/.