Читать книгу A Distant Center - Ha Jin - Страница 15

A 58-YEAR-OLD PAINTER LEAVING FOR AMERICA

Tomorrow you will leave Shanghai,

the city you used to love,

to look for another life far away.

“Probably another death,”

you often joke with a smile these days.

You have attempted death several times.

Expel it from your mind.

No matter how hard life is there,

you must continue to live.

As long as you are alive

there will be miracles.

Indeed, you have no English

or youth for starting over,

only your paintbrush and fortitude.

In that strange land

you must live, as always,

with stubbornness and care.

You must quit drinking and avoid

staying up all night.

Keep in mind the meaning of

your existence: wherever you land,

your footprints will become milestones.