An Island of Illusion

Chinese original and English translation by Sheng-mei Ma

Figure: Aerial shot of Taiwan at night.

虛幻島

他們告訴我
家在海峽的另一邊
這祗是避難的小島
嵌在大海裡
美麗但虛幻
天明我們就回家

如今我已離去
卻是向東
愈走離家愈遠
我想告訴我的孩子
家就在海的另一邊
鑲在一塊虛幻大陸的邊緣
太陽從那兒昇起
你可願意
隨我回家

An Island of Illusion

They told me
Home lay on the other side of the Taiwan Strait
This was but a small isle of refuge
Incised in the ocean
Beautiful yet illusory
We’d head home when the sun rose

Now that I had left
Yet heading eastward
The longer I traveled the farther away from home
I’d like to tell my child
Home lay on the other side of the ocean
Engraved on the edge of an illusory continent
Whence the sun rises
Are you amenable to
Coming home with me