Summer Solstice

Po Fei Huang

The evening breeze has blown in
dreams of the old country;
the daybreak hesitates.

Several birds in the eaves
sing from fond memories.

The white clouds gather in
the early morning and flow
to attend an old rendezvous:

On the mountaintop the pines
give cold comfort to the
worn tombstones;

on the green hills each blade
of grass has lengthened
my longing.

Po Fei Huang was a poet, academic writer, and professor of Chinese language at Yale. He published many poems, poetry collections, and books, including Speak Cantonese and the first Cantonese textbook and dictionary. The Parker Huang Undergraduate Travel Fellowship was created in his honor.