Reading Notes W8: 4 Poems of Angel Island and Chinatown, Part A

Over a hundred poems are on the walls. Looking at them, they are all pining at the delayed progress. What can one sad person say to another? Unfortunate travelers everywhere wish to commiserate. Gain or lose, how is one to know what is predestined? Rich or poor, who is to say it is not the will of heaven? Why should one complain if he is detained and imprisoned here? From ancient times, heroes often were the first ones to face adversity.

Hicks, Jack. “Anonymous Chinese Immigrants.” The Literature of California, edited by James D. Houston et al., vol. 1, University of California Press, 2000, pp. 354–355.