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Island 6

北遊咸道樂悠悠
船中苦楚木樓愁
數次審查猶未了
太息同胞被逼留

香山人題

Everyone says traveling to North America is a pleasure.
I suffered misery on the ship and sadness in the wooden building.
After several interrogations, still I am not done.
I sigh because my compatriots are being forcibly detained.

By one from Heungshan

Listen to the poem in Heungshan ⏯

Island 95

醫生苛待不堪言
勾蟲剌血更心酸
食了藥膏又食水
猶如啞佬食黃連

I cannot bear to describe the harsh treatment by the doctors.
Being stabbed for blood samples and examined for hookworms was even more pitiful.
After taking the medicine, I also drank liquid,
Like a dumb person eating the huanglian.

Listen to the poem in Cantonese ⏯

Island 100

辛亥十月初五
搬房有感而作

到來木屋一星期
提起搬屋我極悲
執齊行李忙忙走
其中苦楚有誰知

Fifth Day of the Tenth Moon, Xinhai Year
Effusion After Moving to Another Room

I arrived in the wooden building one week ago.
Whenever someone mentions switching rooms, it distresses me excessively.
Gathering all my baggage together, I hurriedly run.
Who would ever know the misery of it all?

Listen to the poem in Heungshan (Shekki, Long Du) ⏯

Voices 30

非被困難云無熱血
若因囚仇謂不寒心

玉清氏作
台山唐溪

Those who have not endured hardship
Cannot be said to have hot blood;
Those who have experienced imprisonment
Never have cold hearts.

Composed by Yuqing from Tangxi, Taishan

Listen to the poem in Toishanese ⏯

Island 32

西風吹動薄羅裳
山坐高樓板木房
意好子娘雲欲遠
月明偏受夜更長
床頭有酒心常醉
枕底無花夢不香
一幅幽情何心寄
全憑知己解凄涼

The west wind ruffles my thin gauze clothing.
On the hill sits a tall building with a room of wooden planks.
I wish I could travel on a cloud far away, reunite with my wife and son.
When the moonlight shines on me alone, the night seems even longer.
At the head of the bed there is wine, and my heart is constantly drunk.
There is no flower beneath my pillow, and my dreams are not sweet.
To whom can I confide my innermost feelings?
I rely solely on close friends to relieve my loneliness.

Listen to the poem in Toishanese ⏯

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.