Where Are the Birds of Wenzhou, Bei Bei

For my first 11 weeks in Wenzhou, I didn't see a single bird.

‘The skies are empty and grey at dawn,

They’re empty and brown at noon,

Where are the birds of Wenzhou, Bei Bei

Deep in the afternoon?

Even at dusk when the air is still

Or the cool breath heaves from the sea,

I wait for the beat of wings then, Bei Bei

Rushing to comfort me.’

 

‘The birds were once when the paddy fields

Ran down by the river tides,

When the sky was blue and the air was clean

And the trees reached up to the stars.

The birds were here when the skies were clear

No buildings blocked the view...’

‘But where are the birds of Wenzhou, Bei Bei

Why have they gone from you?’

 

‘They left when the smog came rolling in

And the insects died on the ground,

When the grass turned white and the acid rain

Caused all the trees to drown.

They left when the river turned yellow mud

And the fields died under the road,

When men built towers of thirty floors,

They left the town in droves.’

 

The skies are empty and grey at dawn,

They’re empty and brown at noon.

‘The birds of Wenzhou took their nests

And travelled to old Hangzhou.

They went to live by a wondrous lake

That tales will tell, is blue...’

‘Where are the birds of Wenzhou, Bei Bei...

Have they forsaken you?’

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Bubo]

'They left when the smog came rolling in
And the insects died on the ground,
When the grass turned white and the acid rain
Caused all the trees to drown.
They left when the river turned yellow mud
And the fields died under the road,
When men built towers of thirty floors,
They left the town in droves.'


Not surprising from your descriptions they left!
And how we take such simple thing like birds for granted, and to notice they have fled must bring
sadness at what we are doing to our world...............this is as all your work, beautiful.

[Marie]

How terrible not to see or hear birds. And how terrible that human beings have driventhem away.