去年5.12之后，我写了一首诗《哀歌》。适逢npr（美国公共广播电台）在成都做地震的采访报道，经乌青的推荐，npr的编辑联系上我，让我去录制了这首诗歌。这首诗歌的中英文朗读在电台播送（文字介绍载于npr网站）后，一个名叫史蒂夫.麦格鲁.斯波坎(Steve McGrew of Spokane)的美国听众受到感染，以这首诗的意境创作了一件雕塑作品。他自己说，这件作品不会弥补受难者的损失，对幸存者也没有实质的帮助。但是，通过做这件作品，让自己的心灵跟中国进一步联系在了一起，因为二十多年来，他因各种原因，多次来到中国，对这个国家有着很深的感情。作品完成后，麦格鲁先生将其赠送给了建川博物馆的地震博物馆，并将于5月12日在地震博物馆开馆时首次展出。

名为《蒲公英》的雕塑（材料：银和铁）。

麦格鲁先生和他的雕塑作品在一起。

以下是npr（美国公共广播电台）网站对麦格鲁创作过程的介绍——

Poem Inspires U.S. Sculptor To Honor Quake Victims

Weekend Edition Saturday, May 9, 2009 ·

Last year, a week after a massive earthquake rocked southwest China, we aired a poem on All Things Considered called "Elegy," by Chengdu poet He Xiaozhu.

Little did we know that when we returned to Sichuan province this year, we would meet an NPR listener who was so inspired by the poem, he decided to make a sculpture based on it.

Steve McGrew of Spokane, Wash., listened to "Elegy" on our Web site after his wife, Sharon, heard it on the radio. He says it brought tears to his eyes. A blacksmith in his spare time, McGrew began sketching out an idea for a sculpture within an hour of hearing the poem. In his notebook is a rough pencil drawing of a dandelion emerging from a cracked boulder.

Now, McGrew has taken that image and transformed it into silver and steel. He has forged a stalk, leaves and a dandelion blossom. For the seeds of the blossom, he used bicycle brake cable with the ends frayed out to look like parachutes. One of the seeds will be placed at an angle to the rest to suggest that it's blowing away.

When I caught up with McGrew, he was putting the final touches on his sculpture with the help of fellow blacksmith Philip Greening Jackson, who runs the blacksmithing workshop at the Guangya School in Dujiangyan. The two met over an online forum for metalworkers.

McGrew is actually an accidental blacksmith. It all started with a trip to China seven years ago with his son Ben. He tells us that on that trip, Ben discovered a sword he wanted to buy and take home with him, but the family did not have a suitcase large enough for it. So McGrew promised his son he would make him a sword when they got home.

McGrew has been coming to China for business and pleasure for the past two decades and feels a strong connection to the country. He tells us the earthquake last year really hit home. He and his wife lost their own home in the Loma Prieta earthquake in Northern California in 1989.

He knows the dandelion sculpture won't fix people's lives and doesn't help with any basic needs. But it does tie him to China. The sculpture will be installed at a new earthquake museum that opens in Sichuan on Tuesday, May 12, the anniversary of the quake.

'Elegy' by He Xiaozhu

Thousands upon thousands of anguished cries
Returning to silence and tranquillity
Heavenly acts cannot be predicted
The moon over Wenchuan
Still, a question mark
Aftershocks extend to Chengdu
Sorrow engulfs half the world
Tears turn to ice
Let candlelight melt them away
Children, climb on a dandelion
and line up for heaven

（原诗：哀歌

成千上万的哀鸣

归于寂静

天象不可测

汶川之上的月亮

仍然是一个问号

余震绵延至成都

悲哀波及半个地球

凝固成冰的眼泪

让烛光去融化

孩子们，坐上蒲公英

排队到天国）