You Have a Dream

You will be sad to depart from us tomorrow
At an antlike moment in the smallest space
Where you will become used to singing aloud
With a throat wider than your bulky waste
A song with only one tone and one pitch
A song about your dream flowing with leeches
In a ricefield. Yes, you will have a loud dream!
You will dream of humans who will no longer
Try to catch, skin you off, barbecue you
Or eat you alive as they do with their own
Species; you will dream of jumping
As high as summer stars, and as rapid
As winter winds. You will dream of
Equality, equilibrium and equanimity
From human catch you will be free at last!

Yuan Changming, nine-time Pushcart and one-time Best of the Net nominee, published monographs on translation before moving out of China. With a Canadian PhD in English, Yuan currently edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Qing Yuan in Vancouver. Credits include Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, Threepenny Review and 1289 others across 38 countries. Read other articles by Yuan, or visit Yuan's website.