A new day dawns

Upon the heals of the fitful sleep

In darkness the loudspeakers

Awaken us

First with the National Anthem

And then archaic Western Music

And then

Day after day

The same mysterious stranger

Calling out the beat

Of the morning exercises

With a steady, unending rhythm

Er, Ee, R, San, Sou, Wu, Liu, Chi, Pah

Er, Ee, R, San, Sou, Wu, Liu, Chi, Pah

As the loud speakers crack

And so each morning

I'm greeted

With a morning lesson

In Chinese counting

And one day folds into the next

In the darkness of the returning night

And my students by day

Seem different than my comrades by night

And each evening marks a strange twilight transition

By a strange sonorous voice

Set to background music

As the students hussle for something to eat

And to clean the sweat and dirt

from their tired, skinny bodies

And in my mind and in my dreams

The days and nights melt

Into a single strange memory

Of changing shades and shadows

Of endless repetitions and strange melodies

All cast in darkness and light

And living becomes

As if in an unending round

Of tasks and turns

Of events and discussions

Between the clouds, the wind and the rain

The Great Wall Revisited

Trails in the Snow

1991-1993