To Cicada, by Xuan Ke-jiong (translation by Isaiah Siegfried Chen, introduction / illustration by Peach VI)
To Cicada
By Xuan Ke-jiong
Shut up!
I mean, you there!
The superior one
Making some noise
And heat
You are sapient
With a large head and big ears
You creep out of the shadow
After having lurked
In the mound
For more than 5 years
Nevertheless, you just sing the psalm of summer
With your ass
Ignorant of the intense heat and afflictions of the world
Translated at https://lyricstranslate.com by Isaiah Siegfried Chen
Xuan Ke-jiong is a reporter of Shanghai Radio and Television (SMG) Integrated Media Center. On July 15, 2022, he posted a limerick entitled "To the Cicadas" (Zhi Zhi Liao) on his personal Weibo (Chinese equivalence of Twitter). It was interpreted by some Chinese users as lampooning the CCP leader Xi Jinping, a.k.a the Poo(h). Xuan was admonished by his employer and took down the post "voluntarily." Xuan explained himself that the cicadas' noise simply irritated him while he was jogging in a hot summer morning, and the work was not political. However, the authorities thought otherwise. As of now, his Weibo has been banned.
By Xuan Ke-jiong
Shut up!
I mean, you there!
The superior one
Making some noise
And heat
You are sapient
With a large head and big ears
You creep out of the shadow
After having lurked
In the mound
For more than 5 years
Nevertheless, you just sing the psalm of summer
With your ass
Ignorant of the intense heat and afflictions of the world
Translated at https://lyricstranslate.com by Isaiah Siegfried Chen
Xuan Ke-jiong is a reporter of Shanghai Radio and Television (SMG) Integrated Media Center. On July 15, 2022, he posted a limerick entitled "To the Cicadas" (Zhi Zhi Liao) on his personal Weibo (Chinese equivalence of Twitter). It was interpreted by some Chinese users as lampooning the CCP leader Xi Jinping, a.k.a the Poo(h). Xuan was admonished by his employer and took down the post "voluntarily." Xuan explained himself that the cicadas' noise simply irritated him while he was jogging in a hot summer morning, and the work was not political. However, the authorities thought otherwise. As of now, his Weibo has been banned.
