This piece was originally published in Quarto’s 2022 Spring Print.
Illustration by Mel Wang
妹妹背這洋娃娃
走到花園來看花
娃娃哭了叫媽媽
樹上的小鳥笑哈哈
- Traditional
Little sister takes her doll away
Thought I’d be staying another day
Looked back for a moment, and then it was gone
So long, so long, so long
She goes to see the flowers in bloom
How did this chill wind rise so soon?
When there come soft rains people despair
Sighs escaping to midnight air
A baby cries for its mother and cries
Though it doesn’t know, that it is alive
Before it has felt, before it has seen
This unbearable lightness of being
Look up and see, a bird on the wing
Is laughing, but not out of mockery
And though I waited for you this day
You’ve already whispered away
Eleanor Lin is a third-year student at Columbia College studying computer science and linguistics. She can be found on Instagram as @elemlin and on Twitter as @data_eleanor. You can find her other work at linktr.ee/elealin.