Lee Kuei-shien
Vice President for Asia and Taiwan Ambassador
Lee Kuei-shien （b. 1937）was the President of Taiwan PEN and the chairman of National Culture and Arts Foundation. His published works include “Collected Poems” in six volumes, “Collected Essays” in 10 volumes, “Translated Poems” in 8 volumes ”, “Anthology of European Poetry” in 25 volumes and ”Elite Poetry Series” in 18 volumes, as well as his memoires “The Jigsaw Puzzle of My Life”. His poems in English translation include “Love is my Faith”, “Beauty of Tenderness”, “Between Islands” and “The Hour of Twilight”. He won Merit of Asian Poet in Korea, Premier Culture Prize in Taiwan, Michael Madhusudan Poet Award in India, Poet Medal from Mongolian Cultural Foundation, and Oxford Award for Taiwan Writers. He was nominated by International Poets Academy and Poetry Group in India as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2002, 2004 and 2006, respectively.
Poems by Lee Kuei-shien
Parrot
“ My master is kind to me！”
My master teaches me this word only
“ My master is kind to me！”
I practice this word by day and night
Any visitor comes
I shout
“ My master is kind to me！”
My master is so pleased
to give me nice foods and drinks
inviting many visitors in appreciation of
me being smart and clever
Occasionally, my master
quite elatedly says to me
“Speak whatever you think！”
I still consistently repeat
“ My master is kind to me！”
Transfusion
Blood is drawn from my body
and transfused into vessel of any other
becoming a new harmonious stream
My blood begins to circulate within other body
within the body of unknown person
at somewhere unknown place
Just like the fresh flowers
blooming on the secluded hillside
an unspeakable beauty blossoms in my heart
At somewhere unknown place
there is also transfusion on a large scale
from the bodies of collective massacred
Transfusing blood into the waste land
a place of no sunshine
is in vain to dye the fragmentary map red
From Asia, Middle East, Africa to Latin America
a drop of splashing blood
represents a petal gone with the wind
One Poem for You
I write one poem for you
no rose, no nightingale
but thundering drumbeat urgently
in the cold wave at year-end
In the cold wave at year-end
I write one poem for you
in a deep sense of your present
while you are out at my sight
While you are out of my sight
thinking about the reality of our living place
I write one poem for you
in a faith to keep our promise
In a faith to keep our promise
expecting the era of love to come
behind the iron bars of prison
I write one poem for you
Taiwan Island
You emerge as an island
from the waves of white satin
The dense forest of black hair
drifts with longing nostalgia
The beach of soft white sands
is imprinted with numerous kisses of shells
Taking a birds-eye view from the sky
the beauty of your texture is so attractive
that I am landing onto your body thirstily
You are a mermaid
in the Pacific Ocean
the landmark of my eternal home country
In Granada
In my homeland
I frequently hear
the calling of mind
from Nicaragua
the fatherland of Dario
depth in my heart
from this side of Pacific coast
to the eastern coast of Taiwan
from this side of the century
to the other coast of time elapsed
from this shore of real world
to that sought in the dream
I follow the calling of mind
arriving at Nicaragua eventually
I see the people of Dario
exhibiting their brown smiles
on the fertile sunny land
In Granada, the old city
beauty and sorrow streaming
far, far from other coast of the century
friendship and dream through poetry
converging from the countries all over the world.
