Peking

I
I do not say that the night is as hard as granite
since here in China not a stone is left unworked by the people
here nature is like marble
everything is carved and polished by the hands of working people
building culture

II
The cruel Peking wind has no equal
the nights are heavy with dust, yet from bustling cracks
the rumble of mountain rocks being split boom forth
in the night the whirlwind gathers strength
and still people are at work tempering the steel
from the stones split in the night is born the morning twinkling
and the fountain of sparks forged by the blows of the smith
are the stars in the sky, the medals of the workers