Guili's Voice
Her voice is like strands of silk
that have been boiled in soap and water.
Her sentences float behind,
trailing us like a bridal veil.
In China, Guili is not a common
name, she says. I come from a small village,
and I learned English in middle school,
but I am surprised by words like iris,
with so many definitions.
In China, couples have one child
and it is a disappointment
when the child is a daughter.
Guili's voice is soft and kind and beautiful.
Silk workers kill the silkworm
chrysalis with steam
to protect the cocoon filament
before it becomes a moth.
Here in America, Guili is not a common name.
Her voice comes from her throat
like moths fluttering to light.
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Submitted on May 01, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 37 sec read
- 3 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XAXX XXXXXXBA X XXBXXXX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 651 |
Words | 123 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 8, 1, 7 |
Translation
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- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
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- Esperanto (Esperanto)
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- Português (Portuguese)
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- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
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"Guili's Voice" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/72776/guili's-voice>.
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