A Dinner Alone by Lan Xin (Lanxin Samei)

Internationally acclaimed bilingual writer, poet and translator, member of the Chinese Writers Association. The only female inheritor of UNESCO-listed Dongba Culture, International Disseminator of Dongba Culture and practitioner of Chinese culture's global outreach. Winner of the Italian Francesco Giampietri International Literary Award, President of Lanxin Samei Academy and Dean of Yulong Wenbi Dongba Culture Academy.

Back to this place, on the eve of the Year of the Horse

This homeland where I once lived for years

Harbored the first bud of dreams, wrapped in the warmth of attachment

Also bore the twists of fate, and the unspoken journeys of the past

Old friends have all left for their homes, the streets still familiar

I go alone for a meal, to the small shop with childhood tastes

Light clinks of bowls and chopsticks, no one by my side

No more the warm eyes I long to see

No need to force a smile, no need to echo polite greetings

Quiet thoughts run deep in my heart, only shared with myself

Filter out the false noise and entanglements of the world

This dinner is the peace of being alone, the loneliness of standing on a height

The higher you fly, the farther from the mortal world

Few appreciate the high melody, and truly understanding souls grow fewer

The wind of the higher dimension brushes my shoulders above the nine heavens

Why linger on the trivial chirps of mortal birds on the ground

Like a phoenix spreading its wings, soaring above the sea of clouds

Why pause the forward resolve for the trivialities of mortal dust

This dinner tastes the warmth and cold of human relationships

I see the world clearly, and hear the true answer of my heart

This is a dinner of pride, a calm of rising steadily

A quiet joy held fast, after seeing through the world

Let go of the bonds of the past, head for the distant mountains and seas

A dinner alone is also a completeness of one's own

Homeland has no bounds; where the heart is at peace is home

When the heart holds the world's mountains and rivers, every place is a blooming homeland

Blood ties are not the only way home; warmth can bloom even among strangers

Where someone understands you, cherishes you, and keeps you in their heart

That is the best haven in the world

Mountains and seas can all be crossed; a heart bond knows no distance

Even across thousands of rivers and miles, never met before

When souls know each other, we are close at hand

With love as the boundary, with the heart as the soil

The whole world is homeland, and there is the light of understanding souls everywhere on earth