"Southern North" is written by Tiandi. The full poem is as follows:
"Southern North"
Author: Tiandi
The Wind to the South Wandering in the middle is my yearning.
The north where I was raised has become a place of longing for me.
I miss the lychees of the south and the sorghum of the north.
I miss the desolation of the north with the warmth of the south.
Learned to speak like a southerner and sing like a bird.
I just want to hear the roughness of the riding whip from fellow villagers.
When there is no season,
there is no cold city to run around,
I want to go back to my hometown even more when it snows.
After reading about the south of the Yangtze River where orioles fly and grass grows,
read about the scenery of the northern country.
My hometown that lacks color,
makes me happy and sad at the same time.
Although the north has the Tukang of my childhood,
the south is the battlefield of my life’s struggle.
My youth,
has turned into the mountains and rivers of the south.
My love,
has grown in the south.
My home is in the south, but my parents live in the north.
I have traveled thousands of miles back to the north,
but I can never go back to the night I set out.
I am like a migratory bird,
inhabiting both the south and the north,
My heart is like a kite with thoughts attached to it,
Also tied to dreams.
Maybe my descendants,
will come back to the north just like I did when I came to the south.
My soul,
but can only come and go between the north and the south.
My familiar but unfamiliar south,
My friendly but distant north.
Author: Tian Di, formerly known as Tian Huijun, was born in 1962 in Yanchi Township, Shimen, Hunan Province. He graduated from the Chinese Department of Hunan Normal University, is a member of the Shenzhen Writers Association, and is a member of the Shenzhen Musicians Association, China Member of the Ethnic Minority Music and Literature Society.