A Visit

This poem is an English translation selected from the first section, "A Visit" (巡礼), of the Chinese poetry journal Workers' Poetry Selection (《打工诗选刊》).

We, These "Bird People"

We, who have no fixed abode
We, who make the world our home
We, who have left our native places
We, who drift
We, who wander

We, who were raised by the yellow earth
Yet, in the name of survival
Have betrayed that yellow earth
We, who strive in the cities
Shedding sweat, expending our youth
Yet are often rejected as outsiders

We, who drift from east to west
We, who live in the cities
Yet are called peasants
We, who return to our hometowns
Only to feel like strangers there
We, these amphibious people
We, who belong nowhere
We, these in-between people
We, who have been cast aside

On the railway platform at the end of the lunar year
We, clutching our northbound tickets
In the warm spring air of the first month
We, who rush south in throngs

What kind of people are we, after all?!
What kind of people are we, after all?!
—We, these migrant workers
We, who shuttle back and forth with the seasons
We, who are like migratory birds
We, these—"bird people"

Author Profile: Xin You (1981-2011), born Zhu Liquan, was a poet and writer from Xiaquan, Hubei. His poems were published in dozens of literary journals, including Poetry Journal, Tianya, and Chinese Poetry. His major works include the poetry collection Dusk and Others (Chongqing University Press) and the novel Narrative.

《我们这些“鸟人”》

我们这些居无定所的人

我们这些四海为家的人

我们这些背井离乡的人

我们这些漂泊的人

我们这些流浪的人

我们这些黄土地养大的人

又以生活的名义

背叛了黄土地的人

我们这些打拼在城市的人

奉献汗水，挥洒青春

却屡遭排斥的外来人

我们这些东游西荡的人

我们这些生活在城市

却被称为农民的人

我们这些返回到家乡

像是走在异乡的人

我们这些两栖的人

我们这些两不栖的人

我们这些中间人

我们这些被抛弃了的人

腊月底的火车站台上

我们这些攥着一张北归车票的人

春意浓浓的正月里

我们这些纷纷奔赴南方的人

我们到底都是些什么人?!

――我们这些打工的人

我们这些穿梭在季节里的人

我们这些像候鸟一样的人

我们这些――“鸟人”

作者简介：辛酉（1981-2011），原名朱礼权，湖北下泉人。诗人、作家，诗歌散见《诗刊》、《天涯》、《中国诗歌》等数十家纯文学刊物。主要作品有诗集《暮晚及其他》（重庆大学出版社），长篇小说《叙事》等。