Education Poem by Bai Hua

I'm spreading word about your reputation —
a child who stole three cakes
a child who couldn't idle away an afternoon

O, child from the olden times
cakes twenty years ago
That afternoon determined my future
an afternoon I couldn't idle away

Parents do not age, do not sing
busy chatting, busy with health care
and hitting the bones of children

Prodigal son nourished by loneliness
a son destined to sing
a thinker of winter who refuses teachings
with only bones remaining

Translated from the Chinese by Fiona Sze-Lorrain