Featured

Island 24

深夜偶感

夜靜微聞風嘯聲
形影傷情見景詠
雲霧潺潺也暗天
蟲聲唧唧月微明
悲苦相連天相遣
愁人獨坐倚窗邊

台山余題

Random Thoughts Deep at Night

In the quiet of night, I heard, faintly, the whistling of wind.
The forms and shadows saddened me; upon seeing the landscape, I composed a poem.
The floating clouds, the fog, darken the sky.
The moon shines faintly as the insects chirp.
Grief and bitterness entwined are heaven sent.
The sad person sits alone, leaning by a window.

Written by Yee of Toishan

Listen to the poem in Toishanese ⏯

Island 103

為口奔馳馳到監
困愁愁食亦心煩
薄待華人黃菜餐
弱質難當實為難

I hastened here for the sake of my stomach and landed promptly in jail.
Imprisoned, I am melancholy; even when I eat, my heart is troubled.
They treat us Chinese badly and feed us yellowed greens.
My weak physique cannot take it; I am truly miserable.

Listen to the poem in Cantonese ⏯

Island 35

鬚眉七尺愧無伸
蜷伏圈中俯仰人
百般忍辱徒呼負
斯人瀝哭蒼天何

I, a seven-foot man, am ashamed I cannot stand tall.
Curled up in an enclosure, my movements are dictated by others.
Enduring a hundred humiliations, I can only cry in vain.
This person's tears fall, but what can the blue heavens do?

Listen to the poem in Cantonese ⏯

Island 3

生平廿載始謀生
家計逼我歷風塵
無情歲月偏負我
可惜光陰易邁人

As a rule, a person is twenty before he starts making a living.
Family circumstances have forced me to experience wind and dust.
The heartless months and years seem bent on defeating me.
It is a pity that time quickly ages one.

Listen to the poem in Cantonese ⏯

Voices 4

剪髮處

Barbering Place (Hair-Cutting Place)

Listen to the inscription in Cantonese ⏯

Voices 31

漂浮萬里涉平洋
海 [ 浪 ] 未消候質場
只因學業休云苦
誰道銷出負債償
繼續牢期三個月
來年一日九回腸
蒼天有 [ 眼 ] 磨英骨
流落窮途揮淚傷

I floated ten thousand miles across the Pacific Sea,
Yet before the waves were stilled, I was detained in prison grounds.
For the sake of my studies, I never complained of hardship,
But who knew there would be such high debts to pay?
For three months I have been continuously imprisoned,
This year has everyday brought me nine rounds of sorrow.
Heaven has eyes, and molds heroes’ bones through suffering,
But now I’m at a dead end, and wipe the tracks of my tears.

Listen to the poem in Cantonese ⏯

Translations:
Egan, Charles. Voices of Angel Island: Inscriptions and Immigrant Poetry, 1910-1945. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021.
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.