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Island 98

半生逐逐為求名
借問何時可愜情
藥石無靈成瘧疾
岐黃未遇卻心驚
蒼天想必神能佑
丹鼎無需病自平
從此聞飆雲漢起
行看萬里奮鵬程

Half of my life has been spent running here and there searching for fame.
I ask myself when I will be satisfied.
All medicine was useless when I contracted a fever.
I did not see a doctor, but still I was afraid.
I think the gods in heaven surely protected me.
I did not need an alchemist's crucible, and the sickness subsided by itself.
From now on, when I hear a storm brewing in the Milky Way,
I will gaze the distance of one thousand li and resolve to rise to the heights of the peng.

Listen to the poem in Cantonese ⏯

Island 60

居樓偶感

日處埃崙不自由
蕭然身世混監囚
牢騷滿腹憑詩寫
塊壘撐胸借酒浮
理悟盈虛因國弱
道參消長為富求
閒來別有疏狂想
得允西奴登美洲

Random Thoughts While Staying in the Building

For days I have been without freedom on Island.
In reduced circumstances now, I mingle with the prisoners.
Grievances fill my belly; I rely on poetry to express them.
A pile of clods bloats my chest, and I wash it down with wine.
Because my country is weak, I have become aware of the laws of growth and decay.
In pursuit of wealth, I have come to understand the principles of expansion and diminution.
When I am idle, I have this wild dream
That I have gained the Western barbarian's consent to enter America.

Listen to the poem sung in Toishanese ⏯

Island 124

寄語同居勿過憂
且把閒愁付水流
小受折磨非是苦
破崙曾被島中囚

This is a message to those who live here not to worry excessively.
Instead, you must cast your idle worries into the flowing stream.
Experiencing a little ordeal is not hardship.
Napoleon was once a prisoner on an island.

Listen to the poem in Toishanese ⏯

Island 70

木屋閒來把窗開
曉風明月共徘徊
故鄉遠憶雲山斷
小島微聞寒雁哀
失路英雄空說劍
窮途騷士且登台
應知國弱人心死
何事囚困此處來

Being idle in the wooden building, I opened a window.
The morning breeze and bright moon lingered together.
I reminisce about the native village far away, cut off by clouds and mountains.
On the little island, the wailing of cold, wild geese can be faintly heard.
The hero who has lost his way can talk meaninglessly of the sword.
The poet at the end of the road can only ascend a tower.
One should know that when the country is weak, the people's spirit dies.
Why else do we come to this place to be imprisoned?

Listen to the poem in Cantonese ⏯

Voices 46

感動 [ 春 ] [ 花 ] 三月霧
囚人風滿五更寒

朱題

I’m moved by spring flowers in the third month fog;
To the prisoner, the wind is filled with fifth watch cold.

Composed by Zhu

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.