SELECTED POEMS BY HSIEH CHIAHUA

Translated by Adam Fu

HOME

Friends returning from the temple thinks
That I'm currently quite close to
Leaving home to be a nun
However I don't understand
The feeling when one decides to be a nun
Tell me whether it is identical to returning home?

Only a sentimental woman as I am
Bound to home
Where your returning from the temple is also
Something I don't understand
Tell me whether it's the same as leaving for the temple
After returning home?

BEYOND THE SUBJECT

Prior to departure behind the end
Reserve a place a vaccum area
The body of poem has nothing to do with time and space
Set free when a seed breaks out of earth
In a shout stroking through time and space

　Hsieh Chiahua, born in 1959, partner of Taiwan Zhangmen Poet Association. Having composed Selected Short Poems of Hsieh Chiahua (Bilingual: Chinese-English)