Foreword

I wrote these lines in the winter of 2012, on a train leaving Beijing for my hometown. At the time, I had just finished my PhD applications and was returning for what would be my final Spring Festival in China. Fourteen years later, as we celebrate the Lunar New Year once again, I find myself looking back across the sea at the threshold I was about to cross.

The Journey | 旅途

Chinese Original English Translation
旅途 The Journey
鸦鸦学语的时候， When I first learned to babble and speak,
旅途是父亲的肩， The journey was my father’s shoulder,
从家的这头， From one end of our home
到家的那头； To the other.
歪歪学步的时候， When I took my first tottering steps,
旅途是母亲的手， The journey was my mother’s hand,
从邻里的这头， From one end of the neighborhood
牵到邻里的那头： To the other.
开始上学的时候， When my school days began,
旅途是那辆叮当响的自行车， The journey was a clattering bicycle,
从城的这头， From one end of the city
骑到城的那头： To the other.
到外求学的时候， When I left home to seek knowledge afar,
旅途是那节轰鸣的车厢， The journey was a roaring train,
从黄河的这头， From one bank of the Yellow River
拉到黄河的那头； To the other.
再到将来， And in the years yet to come,
旅途是什么， What shall the journey be?
海的这头， From this shore of the sea
到海的那头？ To the other?
但我可以肯定， But of this I am certain:
在生命的终点， At the final destination of life,
旅途就是那不可预测的死神呼唤， The journey is the unforeseen summons of Death,
从生的这头， From this side of living
到死的那头。 To the far side of the grave.