“i give birth to my body” by Leilei Chen 莫译
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “i give birth to my body” by Leilei Chen 莫译.
i give birth to my body
By Leilei Chen 莫译
a small piece of nature
pulses with whispers of a forest
songs of birds scents of flowers seasons’ everlasting cycles
a human shape of ocean
invites an inward look at its million shifting faces
to touch the bones of mountain trenches
feel the slip of fish and seaweed
wonder about their secrets and mysteries
this newborn body world
a million years young
ages towards its infancy
dissolves its stiffness pain tumours
reaches for its pristine tenderness sweet
this rejuvenating form breaks
free from shackles to save its warm heart
to learn the baby steps of walk
with light strides and a tall spine
striving one day to stand on a cloud
a sailing boat on blue water
Copyright © Leilei Chen 莫译
Previously published in i give birth to my body (Agatha Press, 2025).
Leilei Chen 莫译 is a lecturer, writer, and literary translator. She published Re-orienting China: Travel Writing and Cross-cultural Understanding; I Have Forsaken Heaven and Earth, but Never Forsaken You; i give birth to my body; and the English translations of Chinese women’s literature and ecological writing. Her Mandarin version of Margaret Laurence’s A Bird in the House is forthcoming in 2026.
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