Poetry in Motion
New York
A Bouquet (an excerpt)
Bei Dao![A white horizontal poster with a colorful mosaic at the top features an excerpt from the poem, A Bouquet, by Bei Dao.](https://poetrysociety.org/assets/poetry-in-motion/Bei-Dao-NYC-Poetry-in-Motion.jpeg)
A Bouquet (an excerpt)
Between me and the world
You are a calendar, a compass
A ray of light that slips through the gloom
You are a biographical sketch, a bookmark
A preface that comes at the end
Between me and the world
You are a gauze curtain, a mist
A lamp shining into my dreams
You are a bamboo flute, a song without words
A closed eyelid carved in stone
"A Bouquet" translated by Bonnie S. McDougall, from The August Sleepwalker. Copyright © 1998 by Bei Dao. Translation copyright © 1988, 1990 by Bonnie S. McDougall. Reprinted with permission of New Directions Publishing Corp.