About Yu Nong:
Born in 1966, Yu Nong currently resides in Shanghai. He is the president of World Poetry magazine and the vice chairman of the Boao Poetry Festival Organizing Committee. His notable poetry collections include Time Doesn’t Avoid Cold and Warm and The Best Encounter. Yu Nong has been honored with prestigious awards such as the Shanghai Citizen Poetry Festival Award, “Poet of the Year” at the 4th Boao International Poetry Festival, and the 20th Lebanon Naji Naaman Literary Prize.
You Stand at the Edge of Light
The street is engulfed in a sea of lights
Schools of shining fish shuttle like fireflies
Tall buildings look at each other in the whirlpool of light
The window lattice frames a night that does not belong to you
You stand at the edge of light
Silently watching the long long dance of the lights
When you try to get closer to the starlight
The perceived distance exposes your identity of a mere spectator
The world we have walked through is a sky filled with stars
You accompanied the lonely star approaching the window all night
But it doesn’t know you’ve been here
The drowsy night creates moist clouds
Stars are tears slipping down your world.
Black Tiles Pave the Shallows of Time
From the gentle sound of the wind
The eaves receive the news of spring earlier than the leading migratory birds
Black tiles pave the shallows of time
Layers of waves
Slowly dissipating on the pier of the eaves
With the wind touching down
The withered leaves embedded in the tile are letters sent to the past
The neem tree next to the eaves
Still waiting eagerly
A mischievous and playful childhood under the tree
A few sparrows gently moved their footsteps on the tile
Afraid of disturbing the spring surging from all directions.
Leaving from the Echoes of Dusk
The gust of wind knolls the dusk on the treetops
You leave from the echo
The sinking clouds imprison the breathing of the stars
Carrying rain, pressing towards your unfinished journey of heart
Night hides the hillsides, birds, and sky
And familiar figures
You walk into the night, get close to it
But never saw its face clearly
The night blurs directions
And you carry the stubborn tinder.
