Zhao Dongni: Let This Heart of Mine

　　把心
　　　　　赵冬妮
把心凉下来吧
疼痛就不那么灼热
恰好这个冬天足够寒冷
在雪地里那么一晾

我也要睡了
连枕头都不再需要
只要像胎儿那样
四肢蜷抱，就不会有多冷

我已经怕了说话
说不清事物，说不清自己
我怕了泪水一次次汹涌而来
然后还要忍回，像咽下一口口滚烫的稀粥

睡眠是件多么美好的事
一人裹一个铁桶
一人剩一个
没有温度的心
　　　　　　　　2008年1月27日

　　Let This Heart of Mine
　　　　　　　　　　　by Zhao Dongni　　tr. FAN Jinghua
Let this heart of mine be cool
Pain will then grow less scorching
This winter has been auspiciously cold
The wind over the snowfield will take away the heat

I’ll lie down and give myself to sleep
Pillowing on nothing
I’ll curl up into a foetus, limbs entwined
And then I may find warmth

I regard words in awe,
Unable to make things clear, unable to get myself through
The surges of tears overwhelm me
But I have to swallow their ebbs like boiling porridge

Sleeping is such a sweet thing
Every one is swaddled in a pewter barrel
Every one is left to keep
A heart of no temperature
　　　　　　　　　Jan. 27, 2008

About the Author:
ZHAO Dongni was born in 1960s in the Northeast China, and she is now a contracted writer in Liaoning Province. She mostly writes belles-lettre prose (lyrical prose), with occasional poems. Her collection of prose entitled Counting from One to One was awarded a literary prize in 2007.