Room 111 | North Wall

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Island 135

木屋拘留幾十天
所囚墨例致牽連
可惜英雄無用武
只聽音來策祖鞭

從今遠別此樓中
各位鄉君眾歡同
莫道其間皆西式
設成玉砌變如籠

Detained in this wooden house for several tens of days,
It is all because of the Mexican exclusion law that implicates me.
It's a pity heroes have no way of exercising their prowess.
I can only await the word so that I can snap Zu's whip.

From now on, I am departing far from this building.
All of my fellow villagers are rejoicing with me.
Don't say that everything within is Western style.
Even if it is built of jade, it has turned into a cage.

Listen to the poem in Cantonese ⏯

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.