The House Behind

Unlike most Chinese poetry, which requires about 7 billion years of specialized study to understand (and which I won’t even attempt without a translation handy), this poem, originally found in the online version of Youth Digest magazine, is fairly short, only mildly abstract, and extremely melancholy.
Interesting Vocabulary
逆风 – nì fēng – Against the wind
脸庞 – liǎn páng – Face
跳跃 – tiào yuè – Leap, skip

不知从何时起 喜欢逆风行走 感受花瓣吹向脸庞
仿佛那是白的、黄的、粉的蝴蝶在空中跳跃
不知从何时起 喜欢逆风奔跑 望着风筝越飞越高
仿佛自己的梦想在空中自由飞翔
小时候 是坐在父亲高大的自行车横档 感受他的怀抱
后来 坐在他身后 叽叽喳喳地讲着一天的新鲜事儿
现在 是坐在他的斜后边 静静地看着他的各种动作
越来越远 是的 越来越远

I don’t know when it started   I like to walk against the wind   feel the petals blowing against my face
They’re like white, yellow and pink butterflies skipping in the air
I don’t know when it started   I like to run against the wind   gazing at the kites getting farther away as they go higher
They’re like my own dreams flying in the air
When I was small   I sat on the handles of my father’s tall bicycle   and felt his embrace
Later, I sat behind him   and chattered on about the things that had happened that day
Now, I sit on the slope behind him   quietly watching him go about his day
Farther and farther away   truly   farther and farther away.