Yu Guangzhong's If Parting Is A Fast Knife Poem by Frank Yue

"A Farewell to Hong Kong"
- by Yu Guangzhong (1928-2017)
- Translated by Frank C Yue

If parting is a fast knife,
Then in a flash wield the blade sharp,
Cut me up! (O Strike!)
Cut me into two parts -
Like a severed Lotus Root crying out in pain -
One, called "From Now On", the other, "The Past" (in vain) .

At the centre, unbreakable fibres shall stay,
Linking up the Horizon far, far away -
One end tucking at your hill-side,
One end tucking at my eye;
One end tucking at your home,
One end tucking at my sorrowful dome.