A poem written by the late Liu Xiaobo, a poet, critic and Nobel Prize laureate who campaigned for democratic reform in China, to his wife Liu Xia, also a poet, whose situation in China continues to be precarious.
September 8, 2017
My dear, it’s time to get up
The bridge that leads to the abyss will soon collapse
Use your outburst to clench my determination
Doubts come from the boulder of Sisyphus
Faith begins the moment you lose the key to our home
All my fears and hatred
I give them to you, to you only
Let me raise my head once more
nobly, until
the darkest moment arrives
Translated by Suria Tei