the Whole World is busy getting old Poetry

Xiaoly Li THE WHOLE WORLD IS BUSY GETTING OLD

for Lin Zhao, 1932–1968 *The Whole World is Busy Getting Old, Who is willing to rest before death? Ji Xiaolan, Qing Dynasty,” Yuewei Thatched Cottage Notes.

Punctured with a hairpin, your wounded hand bled out poems, thousands of characters, on walls, dirty shirts—Your Wronged Soul flies

white kites— You leave the Father of the Country, destined for the Father of Skies.

Five cents your mother had to pay for the bullet that took you at thirty-six.

Your eyes still open— Who can bear to look?

Your white bedsheet, red with your blood, cuts through this heavy gray land, this roaring wind and dripping rain.

You, like the legend Kuafu who chased the sun to rid us darkness.

You loved the line, who is willing to rest before death? Your cry over Weiming Lake still thunders in our hearts.