May 25, 1973 (I was 28)
Radio Free China
The radio is on to a Chinese station
I am listening to cadences separated from sense
It would not be possible with most European languages
but I can’t even say hello in Chinese
The music sounds like a wall hanging
serene Asian women with sticks in their hair
Between the instruments an announcer sells me
something important something sincere something helpful
More music and a drama is introduced
then interrupted by Robert Goulet singing in Chinese
Finally the announcer is back
and so is that delicate music
and the importance of tea and contemplation
of an ignorance from twenty years of silence
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