Sunrays play on the heartstrings of love

Lighting up the dawn of hope.

Anna Keiko, a poetess of international repute, based in Shanghai, China, shares her poems

Anna Keiko is an international poet, writer and artist based in Shanghai. She is ACC Shanghai Huifeng International Literary Society founder president and chief editor, world poetry promoter, International Peace Ambassador, Outstanding contribution award winner. She has published 12 books of poetry in many countries. Her poems have been translated into more than 30 languages and published in more than 50 countries. She has been invited to attend international poetry festivals in many countries. In 2020 she was nominated for the Nobel Prize.

Sunrise of hope

The light of dawn

Erases the traces of the night

Relentlessly, time goes on flowing

Although I wish it would stop

Like a picture fixed by the camera’s lens

Because as valuable like fruit in a tree is life

Like the moon ascending at night

 

So you are, my love, whatever happens

Wherever you are, I keep you in my heart

Since I am in love with you my world has changed

Because two hearts found a home of tenderness

Sunrays play on the heartstrings of love

Lighting up the dawn of hope.

***

Waiting for the bus

I’ve been waiting for the bus,

Though many busses depart from here or just pass by.

They go to different places,

But there is no bus that can take me to my destination.

Waiting, I have waited from winter to spring,

But no one cares about those who are waiting at the bus station.

They walk, or they run.

I have waited from dawn till dusk.

 

Trees slumber and then they wake up.

So do the birds.

The city has slept for thousands of years except a few stars stay awoke.

I don’t know the distance to the place where I want to go

I shall still keep waiting, waiting for the bus….

***

An Empty Glass

The cup full of spring water was in sight

It is a part of my body.

I tried to drink it,

But when I tried,

The glass was empty.

Where did the water go

In no time?

 

Is existence

No more than a glass of water?

It’s a mystery, it’s confusion.

What happened?

 

Yesterday, I was here at the same time

And filled the glass.

Would the water not have disappeared

If I had remained here?

Was my mind trapped in the glass

Or…?

***

A Beautiful Sakura

The most ingenious of painters

Painted last night a marvelous painting

Even the poor stop and admire

April’s beauty, nature’s masterpiece

A creature of heaven,

An angel descended on earth.

***

Walking in the Bucharest Park

The moon stood high in the sky

Undulating the waves of the lake

Full of mystery the bushes, the fire in my heart

Suddenly a dark cloud covered the path

And although it was June, summer,

A cold wind blew through my dress

A storm and heavy rain poured down

No place to hide, at loss

And disoriented in the dark forest

All alone, I had to find the way out.

***

Give you everything

You are my sky and light,

You are my eyes and breath,

You are the poem of hope.

Come on, let’s write together,

Write the vicissitudes, write the pain,

Write the difficulties and dreams,

Write the disease you are suffering.

You asked,

Why did doctors prescribe so many medicines?

How come this is my life?

I am asking too.

Ask the heaven, ask the fate, ask thousands of mountains and rivers,

Ask the firmament and the universe.

Then, I heard the answer,

However, I do not know how to write the answer in words.

___________________

Poems translated from Chinese into English by Translation Germain Droogenbroodt-Stanley Barkan

Coordinated by Angela Kosta, Executive Director of MIRIADE Magazine, Academic, journalist, writer, poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, translator, promoter

Read: The Manuscript Age – Poetry from China