Child, Stand Up

By Su Yun (China）

Translated by Cao Shui

A child crawling out of a stone

The world seems unable to accommodate your innocent movements

You are holding flowers, jumping and swaying

The cannon covers you with ferocity

You touch the graffiti and turn around the windowsill

Sharp blade blasting threatens your chest

Stripping away your unformed cognition of love

Do you remember the vines planted in your childhood

Do you imagine the expected blooming of flowers

Do you know that your mother also once

Gradually deepening the wait

Waiting for your heart to be opened by love

Share the colors you bring to the world

The cannon fodder will alter the crow painting

Leave behind the gray and white of sorrow and hatred

Filled with sadness that cannot be buried

Remember that the vines are connected deeper into one vein

Continue to hold onto your love

You stand up and try to search for it

Understand that the enemy is the most unworthy existence

You stand up and learn to take steps

Bring true color to the land              

Su Yun, 17 years old, is a member of the Chinese Poetry Society and a young poet. His works have been published in more than ten countries. He has published two poetry collections in China, namely Inspiration from All Things and Wisdom and Philosophy, and one in India titled WITH ECSTASY OF MUSINGS IN TRANQUILITY. He has won the Guido Gozzano Orchard Award in Italy, the Special Award for Foreign Writers in the City of Pomezia, and was praised by the organizing committee as the “Craftsman of Chinese Lyric Poetry”. He has also received the “Cuttlefish Bone” Best International Writer Award for those under 25.