—For Xiaobo
Sooner or later you will leave
me, one day
and take the road to darkness
alone.
I pray for the moment to reappear
so I can see it better,
as if from memory.
I wish that I, astonished, could glow, my body
in full bloom of light for you.
But I couldn’t have made it
except clenching my fists, not letting
the strength,
not even a little bit of it, slip
through my fingers.
