A note from Liu Xiabo

I rewrite Charter 08 in daydreams— its 978 characters are now

3,190 words in English, —- words in French,

—— in German.  Despite what's happened I'd write it again.

So many of my friend's interrogated

So many casual hits on the internet

So few cries of outrage

So few cries

I think about the weight of those words—how they are silenced

by the weight of stone,  by the weight of 11 years in a Jinzhou prison cell,

weight of compressed dark stone in angled 8 by 10.

Such unforgiving measurements

Such unexceptional inches

Such utilitarian feet

Such a primitive scheme

I can think of anyplace, my mind is like air, it passes through the stone

of my skull, stone of this prison, stone of humanity's heart—easily.

I think always of my beloved

My resolve is blood for our beating hearts

My resolve is not the green beast, pride

My resolve turns prison stone to clouds

My resolve undoes China's blindfold