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According to the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, one of Liu Xiaobo’s offending passages is from his 2006 article, “The Negative Effects of the Rise of Dictatorship on World Democratization.” In its verdict, however, the court did not actually quote any passages from this article.
Liu Xiaobo wrote the poem “Daybreak” in 1997 while serving three years in a reeducation camp. The poem is dedicated to his wife, Xia.
Daybreak
over the tall ashen wall, between
the sound of vegetables being chopped
daybreak’s bound, severed,
dissipated by a paralysis of spirit
what is the difference
between the light and the darkness
that seems to surface through my eyes’
apertures, from my seat of rust
I can’t tell if it’s the glint of chains
in the cell, or the god of nature
behind the wall
daily dissidence
makes the arrogant
sun stunned to no end
daybreak a vast emptiness
you in a far place
with nights of love stored away |
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