Come Home Late

1.
Ask, under the lonely street lamp in the deep night,
The old man who sells Kweilin rice noodles,
What time could you go home?

Ask, the drifting boats in between the river banks,
And that leaf of light raft,
What kind of sadness from the river you are carrying?

2.
One day I will tell you, Mum,
I come back home late because I went far to the Mountain City,
Look, Mum please look,
What have I brought back?
A bottle of Li River's water, and the stars of the yesternight.


**Mountain City = 桂林之山城; Li River = 漓江; Rice Noodle = 米粉
(translated by oswald, poem 夜歸,(1944 Spring) by Shu Hong Shing 舒巷城)
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