No. 17 Shi Tao: Song of October and Another

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Song of October

A short poem at last seems like a tide of sounds
Sharply ending
Momentary silence has attracted
Rough and clumsy footsteps of the bise in winter
Now
Triumphal procession like a poem is somewhere
Gathering
So many pairs of brave and nimble hands are
Playing quickly on the keyboards –
Song of the Earth, and Song of Freedom
“Is it the rustling of wind through the forests in the lush mountains?
Or the ominous thunder hidden on the summit of the snowy peak? ”
The connotation in a drop of ink is
A testimony on the last drop of blood shedding for the victory
His eyes are grim
And people are looking with him at the sky
October
Comes from afar, but not to end
October
Will become a festival for all the unfortunates and their friends

2010.10.22.

Reading the Victor Hugo

The red gate to October has finally been opened
The prisoners are gathering in the forgotten corners
And cheering their cheers which has not been done for ages
But the loudest among those cawing
Are the black crows –
“They have always got a grudge against the poet”
On the streets one cannot see
Any unusually active atmosphere
The pedestrians
Hastily rush to work
In October
The people knowing it by heart look like
Disguised performers or a group of bandits
Why cannot it be openly celebrated
“My proud and generous lion …”
Between this and “thunder of victory”
There is such a great contrast!
On the icy iron bars
The inspiration of waking emerges from rapping:
Freedom, Freedom!

2010.10.22

From Yinchuan Prison, Ningxia

(Translated by Yu Zhang)
Note: In that October the author in prison read an article in a newspaper that denounced the Norwegian Nobel Committee for awarding Liu Xiaobo the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010

Chinese Original