Valentine's Day Concert (By Yang Ke)

by Yang Ke (Translated by Denis Mair) It is a Valentine's Day concert...heart-shaped tickets flock through the door Wing-to-wing...fleeting epiphyllum flowers take refuge from the darkness Chinese folks, having lived for 2000 years within Lao Tzu's book Painstakingly arrange a fashionable evening It's an atmosphere of ambulatory roses putting on the ritz Suits and evening gowns put smiles on their faces The program is arranged to give a privileged feel Much like goblets of X.O. bumping together lightly Ancestors made do with plain fare...passed down observances Focused on eating...serving fish at year's end* For we eat auspicious homonyms...we eat ritual, culture and self-lauding tales We eat up all the leaves from mulberry trees growing between fields China has always been a giant, hungry stomach...up until Basic comforts are in place...then the mouth that found heaven in food Is inflamed by desire...becomes a volcano mouth that immolates lovers It becomes picky...wants a range of flavors Chocolate, cola, Nescafe...similar to distinguishing Among consonants and vowel sounds Blowing out candles that decorate a birthday cake Letting roman letters cohabit with the mother tongue In her ancient cave...spawning bastard terms like TAKSHI and BAIBAI Coining new words without consideration for old word roots Ah, swirl of music under intimacy of turned-down lights Soaring as if on wings of kentucky-fried chicken In a sky fit for phoenixes...ardent and enchanting A clangorous melody, whereby the city's soul Impresses us with its pulsating brilliance