The Rose of Time: New and Selected Poems (New Directions Paperbook)

A selection from the lifework of the internationally renowned poet Bei Dao, who is “like reading Chekhov or Turgenev reflected in a porcelain bowl” (The Times [London]).

in the mirror there is always this moment
this moment leads to the door of rebirth
the door opens to the sea
the rose of time
―Bei Dao

The Rose of Time: New & Selected Poems presents a glowing selection of poetry by contemporary China’s most celebrated poet, Bei Dao. From his earliest work, Bei Dao developed a wholly original poetic language composed of mysterious and arresting images tuned to a distinctive musical key. This collection spans Bei Dao’s entire writing life, from his first book to appear in English, The August Sleepwalker, published a year after the Tiananmen tragedy, to the increasingly interior and complex poems of Landscape Over Zero and Unlock, to new never-before-published work. This bilingual edition also includes a prefatory note by the poet, and a brief afterword by the editor Eliot Weinberger. A must-read book from a seminal poet who has been translated into over thirty languages.