Ordinary Days (Bei Dao)

Lock secrets in a drawer
write notes in my favorite book
put a letter in the mailbox and stand silent awhile
gazing after passersby in the wind, worry about nothing
eyes caught by a shop window's neon flash
insert a coin into a pay phone
bum a cigarette from an old man fishing under a bridge
from a river steamer a vast empty foghorn
stare at myself in a dim full-lenght mirror
in the smoke of a cinema entrance
as window curtains muffle noisy sea of stars
open some faded photos and letters under the lamplight


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(sometimes i wonder if the man knows me. conspiration theory: he must be spying.)