Translated by Ouyang Yu

I am Belgium's Zhang Ping. So are you
swaying from side to side, we play saxophones together
two tunes coming out of one brass wind
strolling outside the window, like this snowy night
as you said 'the heart won't melt in the water like the snow — '

The snow and the wind do not have the needle and the thread, and
you said that there was no need to sew and mend
On this wintry night, you left without shaking my hand
leaving me, like slowly going into this mirror before my eyes
except this puffy hair that's curled up
this cheek with a burnt mark, I found a goatee

You and I are one and the same, you and I are two
my familiarity with you, more unfamiliar than others
here, of all the places, simultaneously renting two bodies
You and I have launched one man's war
not able to exit but preferring to shoot each other

On the snowy night, I am recounting helplessness with the saxophone
the sadness you don't like. You said you hated pretensions
but did not sympathize with people in trouble, totally ignoring me
leaving me like an old shoe under the bed, a lost soul by itself
a big snow and wind outside the window, you left in a hurry

You minded them very much, my faults
although they should have been forgotten, you kept nagging
just like an apology that I suddenly happen to think of tonight
because of this friend's death, it's too late
you have moved out, leaving me sulking, with myself

I also tried to make myself look more decent
doing things with resolution, treating people with passion, not too selfishly
the result is that I can't change the facts when I wake up
I still carefully keep the money, on guard against people
haggling over every cent in the market, with burning ears and a red face

I'm Belgium's Zhang Ping. So are you
like this poem, revised from another one
like walking on the snow, with snow falling behind
covering the road, erasing the footsteps
making it difficult to tell who is I, who is you

Zhang Ping, a poet originally from China, is now based in Belgium.