13-Year-Old Beijing Student’s Coronavirus Poem Goes Viral

This morning, China Global Television Network (CGTN) shared the English translation of a poem by a 13-year-old student in Beijing that’s gone viral in China.

Though the poet’s identity is unknown, his or her words poignantly encapsulate the uncertainty with which we have all been living, and are sure to leave a lasting impression on everyone struggling to make sense of this situation.

Here is the English translation.

Weaning From Facemasks
by Wang Zhongzhou

Weaning from facemasks
To such a day I aspire.

Stale with days and nights,
My face was masked with sourness
For want of a change.

Weaning from facemasks
To such a day I aspire.

There returns
Smoke through men`s pipes,
Gloss on women`s lips,
And children`s songs.

Back to
School, me.
Hearing the recitals,
Ranging the campus.

Weaning from facemasks
To such a day I aspire.

Men and women
No longer wrapped in protective gears,
Fighting their way
Amid poison of disease.

Weaning from facemasks
To such a day I aspire.

In Wuhan and all China
Do we
Freely breath,
And each other embrace.
To remember the taste of nice food,
And the new year bypassed.

Weaning from facemasks
To such a day I aspire.

Sun kissing me in lips,
And spring through my nostrils
With warm words around.

Weaning from facemasks
To such a day I aspire.

Weaning from facemasks,
From Fear,
Delusion,
And discord.

Weaning from facemasks
Might be
Only temporarily.
If the scourge
Is not extinct for good.

Weaning from facemasks,
Might be
Also people in other lands
Facemasked already, or not.
Weaned, or not?

Weaning from facemasks,
Pray we may be
Also away with eyeglasses,
Orthopedics,
And everything not a part of us.

Weaning from facemasks
Pray we may be,
From the masks
To nature,
Freedom,
And health.