Yu Xiuhua - I Love You Translation

我爱你 - 余秀华
I Love You - Yu Xiuhua

Living eagerly; every day I get water, make food, and take medicine on time.

When the sun is radiant I’ll just put myself in there like an old orange peel.

Switching out the tea leaves to drink: chrysanthemum, jasmine, rose, lemon.

It’s as if these these beautiful affairs are pulling me onto the road towards spring. 

So I shovel away the snow in my heart time and time again,

As it is all too white and blinding when it is too close to spring.

When I sit in the clean courtyard, reading your poems,

These emotional affairs of the mortal world flash by like a sparrow suddenly swooping past,

So time finally turns smooth as it winds around.

Now, I am not suited for immense heartbreak.

If I could mail you a book, I would not you mail you a poetry collection.

I want to give you a book about plants, a book about crops,

To tell you what the difference between wheat and cockspur is,

To tell you about the spring that keeps

A cockspur blade on edge.