Middle-age

by Liu Hongli
     trs. by Chen Xiaoyuan

At teatime, I was
squeezed in at the metro station

All the speed was
less than noise
less than hazy ads on the wall
less than that man
less than the tracks that want to lift up
less than the sudden rain on the ground, held hostage
by the two rails

Restless but in sync, like this
we bend in courtesy
Under a mackerel sky
A few words below even the dust

“Jam packed in.”