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Island 132

斗門人往大溪地
來到木屋十餘日
溪地有人回唐山
誰知此埠極難為
有人回來有人去
使枉洋銀三百餘
不到此埠心不忿
回家父母苦極悲
留下利息重重疊
未知何日還他主

People from Dowmoon are going to Tahiti,
Having been in the wooden building for more than ten days.
From Tahiti, there are people returning to the Mountains of Tang.
How were they to know this would be such a callous city?
There are people returning, and there are people leaving.
Having wasted more than three hundred silver dollars,
If I do not get to this city, I will be unhappy.
If I return home, my parents would be extremely grief-torn.
Unpaid interest would be piled one on top of another,
Not knowing when it would be repaid to the lender.

Listen to the poem in Dow Moon ⏯

Translations:
Lai, H. Mark, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung, eds. Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940. Second edition. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014.