The Seventh Day
The moon is almost round. At dawn.
Walking under the ruins of clouds, I hold two legs tight
As if there were a dirty hairy tail betraying my nonhumanness.
My now escapes into the distant, wordless, soundless,
Away from everything, cold and vast.
At the height of three storey, shades of humans bloom like hallucination,
Invisible hands sticking out of no-longer-there windows.
No clothes racks, no squatting potted plants,
No underwear or socks hanging on the rotary clothes airers.
No shadows behind the curtains where TV banally flickers.
Absence is more openly insidious than the past,
A fester that develops into a herpes zoster between the spectacular
Sandwich of rivers and mountains.
An arched bridge collapses before I come;
A promise turns into the cruelest precipice.
Everywhere my eyes touch, thorns grimace in anger.
Behind my back, the bouquet of carnation faints in my hand,
And I cannot present it to the smiling summer day as a surprise.
When I walk over to you, I walk to the dead end,
Flowers withered, an unwanted gift to the nameless mound.
May 22, 2008
第七日
月亮几乎圆了。在黎明。
走在云的废墟下，我夹紧双腿，保持向下的重量，
我的现在遁迹到了遥远之中，无声、无字，
离一切都冷漠而空旷。
在楼的高度，魂的影子开着此起彼伏的幻花，
看不见的手伸出不再有的窗户。
没有竹竿、没有蹲坐的盆景，
阳台上也没有内衣和袜子在圆衣架上旋转。
缺失比曾经还要公然而阴毒，
这伤害在山河的夹层中泛起一条带状的疱疹。
一座拱桥毁了，在我到来之前。
约定成为最残暴的绝壁，目光抚摸处，棘荆丛生。
而我藏在身后的花束，暗香依然，
却再不能成为迎接灿烂的惊喜。
当我走过去，就是走向绝路，
花儿将已经凋萎，只能在节后献给无名的墓碑。
2008年5月22日
Note: The seventh day after a death marks the most important date for the memorial, and usually the service is also the most serious. For the Christians, the seventh day is a day of worship.
Chinese government for the first time observes a three-day national mourning for its citizens; before this, the national mourning has only been ordained for the highest-rank leaders.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Fan Jinghua: Broken Pieces in a Quake
A student's hand Broken Pieces in a Quake
For the Dead in 512 Earthquake in Sichuan China
You crawl out, from ruins, from a narrow opening, from darkness
You join in the humanity by way of rebirth, and
I still can not
Because I have always been exposed to the broad daylight, I
Condemned to linger in this world
In a bigger and ruggedized space integrated with virtuality.
What I can type out are
Merely electronic.
But the pencil in you tight hold is
The key to the next world.
You have to use it as
A paddle
Delivering you through the ruins.
Your arm thrusts out from the debris, stiff and
Dirty
So dirty
That I am forced to turn away despite
My stiff neck
“You cold stiff body my body can never
Never again warm with my body, one flesh, ours.
This last ride I and you embark on will reach its end
Of fire.
At this moment, my red bride, I do not want you to be a phoenix
But a hen, pecking me
For my roughness.”
You tie her corpse on your back, the motor the ferry across the Lethe,
And you make the back wall of my heart freezing.
I am a firm atheistic highly-educated intellectual, probably one of the elite,
Who at the most emotional moments can keep coolly skeptic
Toward any superstitious beliefs,
But the legend goes
The reestablishment of a new town
Does need the sacrifice of hundreds of virgins and numerous laborers,
Like the great wall
Which needed a foundational stake of human trunk to last
For ten thousand generations.
It did not stand
The tears of a wife.
However I shed tears, the salt that instills into the dust could not
Congeal the remains. There will be new schools with lively children, and then (of course
It is then) even more stately buildings with national flags of bureaus, councils and hotels,
And the then-buildings will then be renovated again to keep pace with the soaring GDP
To illustrate the happiness of the people.
Lo, the witnessing children will recite lauds
When the sun rises on every anniversary.
But you, you can never enter my memory,
You have never entered my memory,
You are but strangers, in lives past or future, and we will never have chances to meet.
Your deaths add to the weight of an ever-increasing number,
From coal mines to sweatshops to traffic disasters,
Which has numbed my sense of greatness, as if I have been strong enough
To hold a mountain like a coward angry Atlas with reserved detachment and aloofness.
You can not enter my memory,
You can not enter my forgetting.
You are only human, having one life,
And this makes no difference between you and me, expect that I live a little longer.
May 19-20 2008
For the Dead in 512 Earthquake in Sichuan China
You crawl out, from ruins, from a narrow opening, from darkness
You join in the humanity by way of rebirth, and
I still can not
Because I have always been exposed to the broad daylight, I
Condemned to linger in this world
In a bigger and ruggedized space integrated with virtuality.
What I can type out are
Merely electronic.
But the pencil in you tight hold is
The key to the next world.
You have to use it as
A paddle
Delivering you through the ruins.
Your arm thrusts out from the debris, stiff and
Dirty
So dirty
That I am forced to turn away despite
My stiff neck
“You cold stiff body my body can never
Never again warm with my body, one flesh, ours.
This last ride I and you embark on will reach its end
Of fire.
At this moment, my red bride, I do not want you to be a phoenix
But a hen, pecking me
For my roughness.”
You tie her corpse on your back, the motor the ferry across the Lethe,
And you make the back wall of my heart freezing.
I am a firm atheistic highly-educated intellectual, probably one of the elite,
Who at the most emotional moments can keep coolly skeptic
Toward any superstitious beliefs,
But the legend goes
The reestablishment of a new town
Does need the sacrifice of hundreds of virgins and numerous laborers,
Like the great wall
Which needed a foundational stake of human trunk to last
For ten thousand generations.
It did not stand
The tears of a wife.
However I shed tears, the salt that instills into the dust could not
Congeal the remains. There will be new schools with lively children, and then (of course
It is then) even more stately buildings with national flags of bureaus, councils and hotels,
And the then-buildings will then be renovated again to keep pace with the soaring GDP
To illustrate the happiness of the people.
Lo, the witnessing children will recite lauds
When the sun rises on every anniversary.
But you, you can never enter my memory,
You have never entered my memory,
You are but strangers, in lives past or future, and we will never have chances to meet.
Your deaths add to the weight of an ever-increasing number,
From coal mines to sweatshops to traffic disasters,
Which has numbed my sense of greatness, as if I have been strong enough
To hold a mountain like a coward angry Atlas with reserved detachment and aloofness.
You can not enter my memory,
You can not enter my forgetting.
You are only human, having one life,
And this makes no difference between you and me, expect that I live a little longer.
May 19-20 2008
A man strapped his wife's corpse to his back, ready to send her to the crematory震碎的
你爬了出来，从废墟中，从一个狭窄的洞口，从一片黑暗中
你以重生的方式才能加入人类，而我
还不能
因为我一直在光天化日之下，我
只配压在一个更大更坚固的空间中苟延
敲出一些只不过是字的
电子符号
而你手中抓紧的笔
是进入另一世界的钥匙
你却必须将它用作
桨
企图划过废墟
你伸出的手臂与沙石一样僵硬
很脏
很脏
我被逼扭头，只是脖子
太僵硬
“你僵硬而冰凉的肉身
我再也无法焐暖
这最后一程的终点是
火
而此刻，我的红妆新娘，我不要你是凤凰
只想你像平常一样抱怨
我的鲁莽”
你将她捆在背后，那摩托像死亡的渡船
你们令我心脏的后壁发凉
而我是坚定的无神论者知识分子受过最高的教育甚至可能被归为精英分子
我在最动情的时刻也会保持清醒的拒绝迷信的职业化的怀疑精神
然而
一座城的再生
确实需要献祭很多童男童女和无数的劳工
虽然传说曾经证明这一迷信只需要眼泪就能不攻自破
例如一个民族的伟大城墙
据信如果将一个人做了肉桩
便能确保万年不倒
却没能抵御一个妻子的嚎啕
而我怎样流泪也无助于将一座座城镇的废墟滴注得更加坚实
让一座新城崛起，还将会有崭新的学校和活泼的儿童
然后（当然是然后）会有各种升着旗帜的楼宇， XX局、X院、委员会与宾馆
接着将是那些楼宇会一再翻修与扩建，大门越来越华丽壮实
一次次证明经济腾飞GDP急速窜升人民更加安居乐业
看啊，孩子们将见证这一切
在每个纪念日齐声朗诵赞美的词句
只是你们并不能进入我的记忆
你们从来就没有
你们绝对不会与我有相遇相识的机缘，无论在今生或者来世
你们只是因为死亡才使一个逐日巨大的数字突然之间沉重无比
你们不过是以再一次缺失证明自己的存在而令我难堪
我，对于那个数字的逐日增长一直失语，从矿难到童工到车祸
我自以为已练就了一种泰山压不到顶所以不会弯腰的怯弱的愤怒的隐忍的超然与抽离
你们并不能进入我的记忆
你们并不能进入我的遗忘
你们是人，活过
这一点我和你们毫无差别，除了活得各有长短
2008年5月20日
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Fan Jinghua: Internal Injuries
Internal Injuries
Nothing of any perceivable shape protrudes in these dreams,
and however I turn and twist, an irregular pointed rock
pivots the tangent line between my body and damp ragged surface.
Nightmares have been shattering and reforming themselves
and leave behind an unfiltered heaviness like a tree
suddenly defoliated by poisonous fog, its branches cracked like an umbrella
in a storm, the canopy blown away, bare ribs and stretchers out of joint.
I could not even fall onto the ground, with limbs nailed to broken branches,
body loosely sprawled over the forked tree crotch like a pelt
spread over its bright colored opening of a crocodile mouth.
Something thick and salty from me is dripping down, but I cannot see,
the splattering sound is slower than time.
May 13, 2008
Note: After the earthquake in Sichuan (May 12, 2008), I had bad dreams.
内伤
这些梦，没有任何能感觉到的突出，
凭我如何辗转反侧，一把不规则的锐器
成为我身体与某个嶙峋的潮湿表面的支点。
噩梦自己击破自己，重组着碎片，
留下无法过滤的沉重，如毒雾在瞬间
就脱落了一棵树所有的叶子，树枝一阵劈啪，
暴风雨中的伞面撕脱，只剩扭曲打转的把手和脱臼的撑架。
我甚至不得落在地面，四肢钉在折断的枝干上，
身体绷在裂开的树杈间，如一张兽皮，
那鲜亮的开口张开鳄鱼的嘴，旋风不时向上掀我一把。
又浓又咸的液体一滴粘着一滴从我身上坠落，我却看不见，
只有那声音比时间还要缓慢。
2008年5月14日
按：四川地震后，噩梦频发。
Nothing of any perceivable shape protrudes in these dreams,
and however I turn and twist, an irregular pointed rock
pivots the tangent line between my body and damp ragged surface.
Nightmares have been shattering and reforming themselves
and leave behind an unfiltered heaviness like a tree
suddenly defoliated by poisonous fog, its branches cracked like an umbrella
in a storm, the canopy blown away, bare ribs and stretchers out of joint.
I could not even fall onto the ground, with limbs nailed to broken branches,
body loosely sprawled over the forked tree crotch like a pelt
spread over its bright colored opening of a crocodile mouth.
Something thick and salty from me is dripping down, but I cannot see,
the splattering sound is slower than time.
May 13, 2008
Note: After the earthquake in Sichuan (May 12, 2008), I had bad dreams.
内伤
这些梦，没有任何能感觉到的突出，
凭我如何辗转反侧，一把不规则的锐器
成为我身体与某个嶙峋的潮湿表面的支点。
噩梦自己击破自己，重组着碎片，
留下无法过滤的沉重，如毒雾在瞬间
就脱落了一棵树所有的叶子，树枝一阵劈啪，
暴风雨中的伞面撕脱，只剩扭曲打转的把手和脱臼的撑架。
我甚至不得落在地面，四肢钉在折断的枝干上，
身体绷在裂开的树杈间，如一张兽皮，
那鲜亮的开口张开鳄鱼的嘴，旋风不时向上掀我一把。
又浓又咸的液体一滴粘着一滴从我身上坠落，我却看不见，
只有那声音比时间还要缓慢。
2008年5月14日
按：四川地震后，噩梦频发。
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Fan Jinghua: Writing Distance
Writing Distance
Whatever subtraction is performed on distance, the remainder cannot be minus,
So you are always not present, body or heart or both.
This has become not a variable lack or loss, but a state of being,
And I am not supposed to sentimentalize about it anymore.
What makes me write about this is
My pencils have just been sharpened by my wife
Who has sprawled supine on the sofa, watching soup operas half-mindedly
By her drowsy puppy for a quite boringly long elapse of time.
She called me to her and handed me this handful of uneven sticks,
Before they rose for a walk and I didn’t know who dragged whom out.
I am alone now, and I take each pencil to test out one line
Until eventually, or now, I use one pencil to strike off all I have scribbled down
And miscopy them over and smooth them out into one piece,
With the last line really far away from the first where I talk about distance and you.
May 9, 2008
写·距离
无论用怎样的减法，距离也不可能被减成负数，
你总在别处，心或身，或者两者均不在此。
这不再是一种变量的缺失或者丧失，而是
一种状态，我本不该再对此还有什么感伤。
之所以写下这些字，仅仅是因为我妻子
仰卧在沙发上心不在焉地看着肥皂剧，
只有哈巴狗趴在她的脚边，无聊得足够久了，
所以她唤我过去，交给我一把削好的铅笔，
接着起身出门散步，不知是谁拖起了谁，留下我
一人，和长短不齐的笔。我每一支试写一行，
直到我终于用一支笔划掉所有的字，然后又换一支，
重新抄写所有被涂抹过的字，遇到看不清的
就随便改动，将这些都连成一片；这时，我才发现
这一行离第一行真的很远，已经不谈你和距离。
2008年5月10日
Whatever subtraction is performed on distance, the remainder cannot be minus,
So you are always not present, body or heart or both.
This has become not a variable lack or loss, but a state of being,
And I am not supposed to sentimentalize about it anymore.
What makes me write about this is
My pencils have just been sharpened by my wife
Who has sprawled supine on the sofa, watching soup operas half-mindedly
By her drowsy puppy for a quite boringly long elapse of time.
She called me to her and handed me this handful of uneven sticks,
Before they rose for a walk and I didn’t know who dragged whom out.
I am alone now, and I take each pencil to test out one line
Until eventually, or now, I use one pencil to strike off all I have scribbled down
And miscopy them over and smooth them out into one piece,
With the last line really far away from the first where I talk about distance and you.
May 9, 2008
写·距离
无论用怎样的减法，距离也不可能被减成负数，
你总在别处，心或身，或者两者均不在此。
这不再是一种变量的缺失或者丧失，而是
一种状态，我本不该再对此还有什么感伤。
之所以写下这些字，仅仅是因为我妻子
仰卧在沙发上心不在焉地看着肥皂剧，
只有哈巴狗趴在她的脚边，无聊得足够久了，
所以她唤我过去，交给我一把削好的铅笔，
接着起身出门散步，不知是谁拖起了谁，留下我
一人，和长短不齐的笔。我每一支试写一行，
直到我终于用一支笔划掉所有的字，然后又换一支，
重新抄写所有被涂抹过的字，遇到看不清的
就随便改动，将这些都连成一片；这时，我才发现
这一行离第一行真的很远，已经不谈你和距离。
2008年5月10日
Japanese Poet Saigyo
Saigyo Hoshi Poems
Japanese poet Saigyo Hoshi lived between 1118-1190, and was an official in the imperial court before becoming a wandering monk. His travels into the northern countries inspired many later poets, particularly Basho's (1644-1694) Journey into the Interior of the North. His "mountain home" was a very simple hut.
Japanese poet Saigyo Hoshi lived between 1118-1190, and was an official in the imperial court before becoming a wandering monk. His travels into the northern countries inspired many later poets, particularly Basho's (1644-1694) Journey into the Interior of the North. His "mountain home" was a very simple hut.
Ice wedged fast
in the crevice of the rock
this morning begins to melt—
under the moss the water
will be feeling out a channel
岩缝之中，冰
从今晨开始融化，
如木楔的削损，
厚厚的青苔下，水
摸出一条小道。
You can tell
from the outline of the hills
the way it’s hazed over—
from this morning on
we’ll have spring dawns
山的轮廓
无言地说出
雾浓雾淡，
从今起，每个破晓
破的都是春晓。
Sad the haze in the meadow
where I pick young herbs
when I think
how it shrouds me
from the faraway past
草地上，雾霭含愁，
我手采幼嫩的药草，
心里想着
它们也有雾霭——
那是由来已久的前生。
Seeping through the haze
the voice
of the bush warbler—
few people passing
mountain village in spring
黄莺的婉转
划穿薄雾，
这片草丛无人经过，
一只草舍便是一个村子，
满含春色。
This spring I’ll stay
close to my rustic hedge,
make friends
with people who come
in search of the plum’s fragrance
这个春季，
我将不离开草舍，
我要结识每一位
来山中
寻访梅香的游客。
Curtained by spring showers
pouring down from the eaves,
a place where someone lives,
idle, idle,
unknown to others
春雨如帘，
自屋檐泻下。
这个居处
无人知晓，
悠闲得很悠闲。
I’ll forget the trail
I marked out on Mount Yoshino
last year,
go searching for blossoms
in the directions I’ve never been before
访花进了吉野山，
今年的小径
偏离了去年留下的
记号，越走越远，
越看越多。
原文：吉野山こぞのしをりの道かへて
まだ見ぬかたの花をたづねむ
Since the day I saw
Mount Yoshino’s
blossoming treetops,
my body’s one place,
my heart in another
自从那天望见
花儿在吉野山上
缀满了枝头，
我便身在此处，
心，在远方。
Why should my heart
still harbor
this passion for cherry flowers
I who thought
I had put all that behind me?
怎么还会
眼见樱花而心中
涌起荡漾的激情？
我还以为自己
早已将一切置之心外。
Let me die in spring
under the blossoming trees
let it be around
that full moon
of Kisaragi month
惟愿能死在春天，
死在一棵盛开的樱树下，
在二月，
佛陀的次日，
月亮最圆的时候。
原文：願はくは花の下にて春死なむ
その如月の望月の頃
Take a good look
even the blossoms
of the old cherry seem sad—
how many more times
will they see the spring?
用心看：
老树上的樱花
也很伤感。
它们还能再见到
几个春天呢？
Gazing at them,
I’ve grown so very close
to these blossoms,
to part with them when they fall
seems bitter indeed!
若我凑近、凝目，
便会和它们非常接近。
看着这些花瓣凋落，
弃我而去，
心中苦涩难对君说！
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Cao Shuying: Longie
寿寿的N种生活方式(之一)
曹疏影
From “The Numerous Life Styles of Longie”
Cao Shuying tr. Fan Jinghua
I: Longie
Little Genie Sr.:
My boyfriend’s penis is called Longie, after the auspicious wish for Longevity.
No one has ever mistreated it, but it escaped one day.
That was on a crowded bus, on a summer day, and the sordid smell of sweat was beyond words. Suddenly, a darkish red gadget flew out of the window. It was Longie! We saw it, its neck stretched, bouncing across the busy road, dodging taxis, buses, and bicycles. When it finally reached the other side of the road, it jumped several times. Protesting? Bidding farewell? We were all stupefied with shock! Before we came to our senses, numerous gadgets of its kind had already flown out of the windows! The whole bus of people were howling, and every man was dying to free their hands on the iron rails to have a touch of their trousers, but the bus was far too crowded. The road was jammed with penises of all sizes and shapes, and they were rubbing each other, dillydallying across the street. While the drivers could not see them, we were all dumbfounded at those bustling fleshy sticks. They were bouncy and jumpy, as if calling Longie and asking it to wait for them, or they were just in a riot or celebration, or they were coughing, drunk, or reclaiming the universe…
“Longie, Longie…” but we could not spot out which among the penises is it.
Feb. 2006 (?)
一、寿寿
小鬼大：
“我男朋友的阴茎叫寿寿，取长命百岁的意思。
“谁都不曾恶待过它，可有一天它却逃走了。
“那是在一辆拥挤的公共汽车上，大夏天，任谁都无法形容出那种汗臭。突然一个红褐色的东西从车窗飞了出去，是寿寿！我们看见它伸着脖子在马路上一弹一弹的跳着，躲避出租车，客车，然后是自行车。它终于到了马路对面，高兴地跳了好几下。示威么？道别么？我们已经吓傻了。还没回过神来，却有无数只这样的东西飞出车窗！一车人都在嚎叫，男人们抓着铁栏杆的手想伸下去摸摸裤子，可太挤了根本办不到。整条马路上几乎塞满了各种各样的阴茎，擦擦蹭蹭地过马路，过路司机看不到它们，可我们眼都直了。这些肉棍不住地攒动，跳啊跳，像是在招呼寿寿等等自己，像是在欢呼，在咳嗽在醉酒在开垦宇宙……
“‘寿寿——寿寿——’可我们已经认不出哪个是它了。
2006年2月 (?)
About the poet:Cao Shuying was born in 1979 in Hei Long Jiang Province (the northeastern part of China) and educated in Beijing University. She obtained a BA from Chinese Department and an MA in Comparative Literature. Her published books include Puppets on Strings (poetry), Cornel Box (Golden Flower Box) (poetry), Fishing with Humi Cat (children) and Tales from Bitter Bodhi Bay (children). She now lives in Hong Kong as a freelancer.
作者：曹疏影，哈尔滨人，北京大学中文系学士、比较文学硕士。现旅居香港，为自由撰稿人。诗作结集为《拉线木偶》、《茱萸箱》，另写有童话集《和呼咪一起钓鱼》、《苦菩湾故事》。
曹疏影
From “The Numerous Life Styles of Longie”
Cao Shuying tr. Fan Jinghua
I: Longie
Little Genie Sr.:
My boyfriend’s penis is called Longie, after the auspicious wish for Longevity.
No one has ever mistreated it, but it escaped one day.
That was on a crowded bus, on a summer day, and the sordid smell of sweat was beyond words. Suddenly, a darkish red gadget flew out of the window. It was Longie! We saw it, its neck stretched, bouncing across the busy road, dodging taxis, buses, and bicycles. When it finally reached the other side of the road, it jumped several times. Protesting? Bidding farewell? We were all stupefied with shock! Before we came to our senses, numerous gadgets of its kind had already flown out of the windows! The whole bus of people were howling, and every man was dying to free their hands on the iron rails to have a touch of their trousers, but the bus was far too crowded. The road was jammed with penises of all sizes and shapes, and they were rubbing each other, dillydallying across the street. While the drivers could not see them, we were all dumbfounded at those bustling fleshy sticks. They were bouncy and jumpy, as if calling Longie and asking it to wait for them, or they were just in a riot or celebration, or they were coughing, drunk, or reclaiming the universe…
“Longie, Longie…” but we could not spot out which among the penises is it.
Feb. 2006 (?)
一、寿寿
小鬼大：
“我男朋友的阴茎叫寿寿，取长命百岁的意思。
“谁都不曾恶待过它，可有一天它却逃走了。
“那是在一辆拥挤的公共汽车上，大夏天，任谁都无法形容出那种汗臭。突然一个红褐色的东西从车窗飞了出去，是寿寿！我们看见它伸着脖子在马路上一弹一弹的跳着，躲避出租车，客车，然后是自行车。它终于到了马路对面，高兴地跳了好几下。示威么？道别么？我们已经吓傻了。还没回过神来，却有无数只这样的东西飞出车窗！一车人都在嚎叫，男人们抓着铁栏杆的手想伸下去摸摸裤子，可太挤了根本办不到。整条马路上几乎塞满了各种各样的阴茎，擦擦蹭蹭地过马路，过路司机看不到它们，可我们眼都直了。这些肉棍不住地攒动，跳啊跳，像是在招呼寿寿等等自己，像是在欢呼，在咳嗽在醉酒在开垦宇宙……
“‘寿寿——寿寿——’可我们已经认不出哪个是它了。
2006年2月 (?)
About the poet:Cao Shuying was born in 1979 in Hei Long Jiang Province (the northeastern part of China) and educated in Beijing University. She obtained a BA from Chinese Department and an MA in Comparative Literature. Her published books include Puppets on Strings (poetry), Cornel Box (Golden Flower Box) (poetry), Fishing with Humi Cat (children) and Tales from Bitter Bodhi Bay (children). She now lives in Hong Kong as a freelancer.
作者：曹疏影，哈尔滨人，北京大学中文系学士、比较文学硕士。现旅居香港，为自由撰稿人。诗作结集为《拉线木偶》、《茱萸箱》，另写有童话集《和呼咪一起钓鱼》、《苦菩湾故事》。
Fan Jinghua: The Chapel
The Chapel
That night, the moonlight on the small slope before the chapel shone absent-mindedly
He stared at a marriage notice
And sat in the wooden bench below the corridor
Visualizing how that mandrill husband would fuck her like a baboon
He did not try to stop his heartache by looking up for the moon
Three hours later he tired himself out in the morning birdcries
That is over ten years ago
And now he is imagining the moonlight before the chapel
And whether it is sacred to make it out with the divorcee on that bench
May 8, 2008
小教堂
那夜，月光心不在焉地泻照在那座小教堂前的斜坡上
他盯着一张结婚公告
坐在走廊前的长木椅上
想象着她的丈夫将会如何像一只山魈操一只狒狒
他没有抬头找月亮以阻止心痛
三个小时之后，他疲惫不堪地回到一张单人床，晨鸟已开始尖啸
那是十多年前了
此刻他正在想象那座小教堂前的月光
不知道把离了婚的她约到那张椅子上狎昵算不算亵渎
2008年5月9日晨
That night, the moonlight on the small slope before the chapel shone absent-mindedly
He stared at a marriage notice
And sat in the wooden bench below the corridor
Visualizing how that mandrill husband would fuck her like a baboon
He did not try to stop his heartache by looking up for the moon
Three hours later he tired himself out in the morning birdcries
That is over ten years ago
And now he is imagining the moonlight before the chapel
And whether it is sacred to make it out with the divorcee on that bench
May 8, 2008
小教堂
那夜，月光心不在焉地泻照在那座小教堂前的斜坡上
他盯着一张结婚公告
坐在走廊前的长木椅上
想象着她的丈夫将会如何像一只山魈操一只狒狒
他没有抬头找月亮以阻止心痛
三个小时之后，他疲惫不堪地回到一张单人床，晨鸟已开始尖啸
那是十多年前了
此刻他正在想象那座小教堂前的月光
不知道把离了婚的她约到那张椅子上狎昵算不算亵渎
2008年5月9日晨
Hanxin: I Take These Wild Open Flowers
我把这些开着的花
寒馨 (1968-)
我把这些开着的花
看成是眼
别这么看着我
这有些暧昧
好像我真的和你有过什么关系
2008年4月6日
I Take These Wide Open Flowers
Hanxin (1968-) tr. Fan Jinghua
I take these wide open flowers
As eyes
Don’t stare at me like these
It appears a little suggestive
As if I had really been involved with you before
April 6, 2008
译按：没错，这个“我”实际上比花儿要暧昧多了，而且还将自己的暧昧投射给花儿，这关系恐怕还不仅仅是今生的呢。这首诗写得俏皮随意，反而显露出一个女性特有的东西。
Contemporary Chinese poet Hanxin 寒馨 (in Chinese this name means Cold Fragrance), her real name being 董梅 Dong Mei.
寒馨 (1968-)
我把这些开着的花
看成是眼
别这么看着我
这有些暧昧
好像我真的和你有过什么关系
2008年4月6日
I Take These Wide Open Flowers
Hanxin (1968-) tr. Fan Jinghua
I take these wide open flowers
As eyes
Don’t stare at me like these
It appears a little suggestive
As if I had really been involved with you before
April 6, 2008
译按：没错，这个“我”实际上比花儿要暧昧多了，而且还将自己的暧昧投射给花儿，这关系恐怕还不仅仅是今生的呢。这首诗写得俏皮随意，反而显露出一个女性特有的东西。
Contemporary Chinese poet Hanxin 寒馨 (in Chinese this name means Cold Fragrance), her real name being 董梅 Dong Mei.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Fan Jinghua: Stylistic Turn
Stylistic Turn
Le style c’est l’homme même
--George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon
Enjambing lines
Not necessarily for the effect of suspension but solely
For surprise
Omit the first person pronoun
Put an organ of desire to all the inanimate
And turn them into base beings like humans
Keep the verbs
But change the abstract words like love to a tree or whatever concrete
Never use modal words or punctuation marks!
Keep writing down
What comes to your mind
Naturally
A tree is tall when it stands by a bridgehead
and its shade does not reveal
its rings
The lamps highlight the bridge’s glamour and the tree takes in
the whistles and breathes the tail gas
When the leaves fall
The bridge in the light becomes unbearably bare
This has said enough
About love and life and society and nature and practically everything in the universe
But I would never claim anything
Unless the claim that this is a must piece as a modest term for a masterpiece
And if you do not see you are just a woodenhead which I do not care to ridicule
The point is a great poet and a great poem
Never tell
And the tongue should be clammed in the cheeks
Striking the nails into the skull of the readers that he who gets emotional can never
Be a great artist
And that is why you can only be a common reader
May 7, 2008
风格转向
风格即人――布封
分行，不要有可循的规律
不必为了悬疑的效果，而是仅仅为了
惊奇
省略第一人称，称之为无我
给所有的非生物添加欲望的器官
让它们像人一样低劣
保留动词
将抽象的观念，诸如爱与友情，换成一棵树或者任何具象之物
千万别用情态词和标点符号！
写下这句话后面
进入你脑中的任何词，不管是否成句
这叫浑然天成
“一棵树站在桥头，所以很高
它的影子没有泄露
年轮
路灯照得这座桥风采迷人，而树默默吸收着
汽笛和尾气
树叶落了时
灯光下的桥顿时赤裸不堪”
关于爱情、生命、社会以及自然甚至几乎是这世间的一切
这几行已经足够
尽管我对这首诗秘而不宣
我只需宣称这是一首人人必读的诗篇，可谓空前绝后
而你如果没有看出这是一首杰作，你不过是木头脑瓜，我根本不屑嘲弄
一个伟大的诗人和一首伟大的诗篇
都绝不会说漏了自己
舌头必须含在嘴里尽量别动
直接朝读者的囟门上钉钉子，让他们知道谁动了感情谁就不可能成为
伟大的艺术家
让他们不得不承认自己最多只能做一个普通读者
2008年5月8日
Le style c’est l’homme même
--George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon
Enjambing lines
Not necessarily for the effect of suspension but solely
For surprise
Omit the first person pronoun
Put an organ of desire to all the inanimate
And turn them into base beings like humans
Keep the verbs
But change the abstract words like love to a tree or whatever concrete
Never use modal words or punctuation marks!
Keep writing down
What comes to your mind
Naturally
A tree is tall when it stands by a bridgehead
and its shade does not reveal
its rings
The lamps highlight the bridge’s glamour and the tree takes in
the whistles and breathes the tail gas
When the leaves fall
The bridge in the light becomes unbearably bare
This has said enough
About love and life and society and nature and practically everything in the universe
But I would never claim anything
Unless the claim that this is a must piece as a modest term for a masterpiece
And if you do not see you are just a woodenhead which I do not care to ridicule
The point is a great poet and a great poem
Never tell
And the tongue should be clammed in the cheeks
Striking the nails into the skull of the readers that he who gets emotional can never
Be a great artist
And that is why you can only be a common reader
May 7, 2008
风格转向
风格即人――布封
分行，不要有可循的规律
不必为了悬疑的效果，而是仅仅为了
惊奇
省略第一人称，称之为无我
给所有的非生物添加欲望的器官
让它们像人一样低劣
保留动词
将抽象的观念，诸如爱与友情，换成一棵树或者任何具象之物
千万别用情态词和标点符号！
写下这句话后面
进入你脑中的任何词，不管是否成句
这叫浑然天成
“一棵树站在桥头，所以很高
它的影子没有泄露
年轮
路灯照得这座桥风采迷人，而树默默吸收着
汽笛和尾气
树叶落了时
灯光下的桥顿时赤裸不堪”
关于爱情、生命、社会以及自然甚至几乎是这世间的一切
这几行已经足够
尽管我对这首诗秘而不宣
我只需宣称这是一首人人必读的诗篇，可谓空前绝后
而你如果没有看出这是一首杰作，你不过是木头脑瓜，我根本不屑嘲弄
一个伟大的诗人和一首伟大的诗篇
都绝不会说漏了自己
舌头必须含在嘴里尽量别动
直接朝读者的囟门上钉钉子，让他们知道谁动了感情谁就不可能成为
伟大的艺术家
让他们不得不承认自己最多只能做一个普通读者
2008年5月8日
Fan Jinghua: Copy a Poem to a Friend
Copy a Poem to a Friend
I will think it a luxury to copy
A poem on a clean piece of paper
After writing it for a faraway friend
Letting the ink dry in the cool stagnant air from the air-con
While my eyes ran over it again
I found one miscopied word
But still I folded it into the envelope
Knowing that someday anyway you would read
A revised version on my blog which I may revise again and again
The thought that delighted me more is
That maybe you cherish the faulty hard copy
Like a stamp with an error
May 6, 2008
赠诗寄远
我将这份闲情当作奢侈
写了一首赠诗之后
抄录在一张白净的纸上
等着墨迹在空调凝滞的冷气中慢慢风干时
却发现抄错了一个字
可我依然叠好放进信封
知道反正你迟早会看到修改了的版本
贴在我的博客上
而我还可以在那儿随时再度修改
一想到你或许宁愿珍惜一个生涩的错误
犹如集邮者收到一张错票
我便为抄错了字暗自开心
2008年5月7日
I will think it a luxury to copy
A poem on a clean piece of paper
After writing it for a faraway friend
Letting the ink dry in the cool stagnant air from the air-con
While my eyes ran over it again
I found one miscopied word
But still I folded it into the envelope
Knowing that someday anyway you would read
A revised version on my blog which I may revise again and again
The thought that delighted me more is
That maybe you cherish the faulty hard copy
Like a stamp with an error
May 6, 2008
赠诗寄远
我将这份闲情当作奢侈
写了一首赠诗之后
抄录在一张白净的纸上
等着墨迹在空调凝滞的冷气中慢慢风干时
却发现抄错了一个字
可我依然叠好放进信封
知道反正你迟早会看到修改了的版本
贴在我的博客上
而我还可以在那儿随时再度修改
一想到你或许宁愿珍惜一个生涩的错误
犹如集邮者收到一张错票
我便为抄错了字暗自开心
2008年5月7日
Hanxin: Then
之后
寒馨 (1968-)
武王车三百乘，兵卒五万，战牡野
商纣死，遂花开百年，不败。
凡貌象声色，皆活，皆有了生气
手脚可以自主使用了，像左右方向的
遍地蚂蚁。绣河图，造两仪
乾坤婉转纠缠，无期限、无限远，织黄色的土布
给泥人呼吸、胎记，一根圆柱型的骨骼
坚硬而温存。教他们养畜，种百草，医治八百朝疾病
所以你一直活到现在，所以你隔着窗子
听田野的潮声，镜花无缘，格列佛失去想象
九百六十万的麦子，有那么巨大的隐忍和吸收
2007年5月18日
Then
Hanxin (1968-) tr. Fan Jinghua
Warrior King deployed 300 chariots and 50 thousand soldiers
to the Phallus Wilderness, whereupon Tyrant Zhou was
killed in the battlefield, and then flowers there
were in full bloom for a hundred years.
All that had appearances and made sounds were alive
and full of vital energy, their limbs dexterous like the legs of ants
that hold directions. Water systems were embroidered on maps,
two poles were located at a tellurion, male heaven and female earth
coupled and entwined, with neither temporal limit nor spatial boundary.
Yellowish cotton cloth was woven, breath was blown into clay figures
stamped with birthmarks, and a column-like spine, hard and warm, was installed.
People were then taught to domesticate animals, grow herbs, and treat chronic illnesses.
Therefore you live till today, and therefore you can hide behind the windowpane
hear the tidal sounds rolling over fields and see flowers blooming vainly in mirrors.
Gulliver’s imagination is sterile before 96 hundred thousand heads of wheat
which contain an immensity of reservation and assimilation.
May 18, 2007
译按：诗人喜欢武王的暴力或许是因为他的暴力在她看来是一种construction创造而非destruction破坏，在大地上的创造，而大地在此自然是母性的，最终落入“隐忍与吸收”，这其中的男女意识形态很传统或正统，但不妨碍其浑厚大气。九百六十万这个数字是中国的领土吧，麦子已经成为当代诗歌的一个新的象征传统中的最典型意象了。
寒馨 (1968-)
武王车三百乘，兵卒五万，战牡野
商纣死，遂花开百年，不败。
凡貌象声色，皆活，皆有了生气
手脚可以自主使用了，像左右方向的
遍地蚂蚁。绣河图，造两仪
乾坤婉转纠缠，无期限、无限远，织黄色的土布
给泥人呼吸、胎记，一根圆柱型的骨骼
坚硬而温存。教他们养畜，种百草，医治八百朝疾病
所以你一直活到现在，所以你隔着窗子
听田野的潮声，镜花无缘，格列佛失去想象
九百六十万的麦子，有那么巨大的隐忍和吸收
2007年5月18日
Then
Hanxin (1968-) tr. Fan Jinghua
Warrior King deployed 300 chariots and 50 thousand soldiers
to the Phallus Wilderness, whereupon Tyrant Zhou was
killed in the battlefield, and then flowers there
were in full bloom for a hundred years.
All that had appearances and made sounds were alive
and full of vital energy, their limbs dexterous like the legs of ants
that hold directions. Water systems were embroidered on maps,
two poles were located at a tellurion, male heaven and female earth
coupled and entwined, with neither temporal limit nor spatial boundary.
Yellowish cotton cloth was woven, breath was blown into clay figures
stamped with birthmarks, and a column-like spine, hard and warm, was installed.
People were then taught to domesticate animals, grow herbs, and treat chronic illnesses.
Therefore you live till today, and therefore you can hide behind the windowpane
hear the tidal sounds rolling over fields and see flowers blooming vainly in mirrors.
Gulliver’s imagination is sterile before 96 hundred thousand heads of wheat
which contain an immensity of reservation and assimilation.
May 18, 2007
译按：诗人喜欢武王的暴力或许是因为他的暴力在她看来是一种construction创造而非destruction破坏，在大地上的创造，而大地在此自然是母性的，最终落入“隐忍与吸收”，这其中的男女意识形态很传统或正统，但不妨碍其浑厚大气。九百六十万这个数字是中国的领土吧，麦子已经成为当代诗歌的一个新的象征传统中的最典型意象了。
Hanxin 寒馨 Chinese poet
Hanxin: Walk On
走
寒馨 (1968-)
向前走，是土墙下没有身份的花，是
树含蓄的阴影，是鸟带来的小径
是两三声懒散的犬吠、淡淡的粪肥味和油菜荚
积攒的气力与海。棕榈树有火烧的痕迹
它的高度稀薄，和你的愿望一样
长长地，四下散着
你拿着一本书，怎么走
都没有走出小镇的这个中午，并且听任
两只相伴起舞的蝴蝶，运走了天空
2007年5月6日
Walk On
Hanxin (1968-) tr. Fan Jinghua
Walk on, and there will be a flower of no identity under the clay wall,
A reticent shadow of a tree, a tiny trail of a bird
There will come a few lazy barks, the faint smell of manure and the stored-up
energy and sea of canola pods. A palm tree will show burns of fire,
and its height is thin air, like your wish,
long and elongated, to every direction.
You, with a book in hand, walk on and on
but cannot walk out of this noon of the town. You can do nothing
but watch two butterflies carrying away the sky in their matching dance.
May 6, 2007
About the poet:
Hanxin, aka Dong Mei 董梅, is a contemporary poet who was born in Lanzhou, Gansu and now resides in Shandong.
寒馨 (1968-)
向前走，是土墙下没有身份的花，是
树含蓄的阴影，是鸟带来的小径
是两三声懒散的犬吠、淡淡的粪肥味和油菜荚
积攒的气力与海。棕榈树有火烧的痕迹
它的高度稀薄，和你的愿望一样
长长地，四下散着
你拿着一本书，怎么走
都没有走出小镇的这个中午，并且听任
两只相伴起舞的蝴蝶，运走了天空
2007年5月6日
Walk On
Hanxin (1968-) tr. Fan Jinghua
Walk on, and there will be a flower of no identity under the clay wall,
A reticent shadow of a tree, a tiny trail of a bird
There will come a few lazy barks, the faint smell of manure and the stored-up
energy and sea of canola pods. A palm tree will show burns of fire,
and its height is thin air, like your wish,
long and elongated, to every direction.
You, with a book in hand, walk on and on
but cannot walk out of this noon of the town. You can do nothing
but watch two butterflies carrying away the sky in their matching dance.
May 6, 2007
About the poet:
Hanxin, aka Dong Mei 董梅, is a contemporary poet who was born in Lanzhou, Gansu and now resides in Shandong.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Chinese News: Let the Leaders Go First
The Graves (a still from a TV documentary about the fire 12 years later) Eye Salute
Etiquette advisor (deputy chairman of the Party from the Bureau of Education):
Now, go, go on to the stage, and let us do
Our performing. In the first rows
The leaders have already seated and they are not
To be kept waiting. Yours is not an entertainment,
Yours is a report back, and let’s do our best.
Remember to lower your heads a little,
Do not appear to look down your noses
As in the stalls the leaders sit low in their chairs!
Do not stare, and you can imagine you are looking at watermelons
(Don’t laugh, this is only a simile, not an analogue).
Remember to be neat; come onto the stage quick,
and exit after a bow, slow and in order. Exit quick.
Do not wait for applause, and then go out
And re-enter from the main entrance to your seats in the rear.
Do not make any noise,
And applause hard when the leaders go onto the stage again,
And applause harder when they praise your performance.
Remain seated when the leaders leave the stage,
And eye salute them as they walk down the aisle.
Allow some time for the leaders to leave the yard
And remain seated and keep silent
Until you are directed by your teacher to leave row by row.
Invisible Eyes (from Nowhere):
The students remained seated when fire broke out during the show,
As an official’s voice was heard out of the smoke through the loud speakers:
Don’t move, students! Let the leaders go first!
Twenty some leaders were all safe and clean, their etiquette perfect,
Leaving behind 288 young burnt corpses between 8 and 14 years old
And 37 adults, their arms spread like desperate hens over their chickens.
The students were enlisted from 8 primary schools and 7 middle schools
To entertain the leaders from the Province came to inspect
The municipal’s achievements in the Illiteracy-Elimination Movement.
That was on December 8, 1994 in Kelamayi, Xinjiang, China,
And people over the country were commemorating Dec. 9th Anti-Japan Movement.
May 3, 2008
Bare Fact News：
1994年12月8日，克拉玛依市举行学生汇报演出，礼堂大火，但是因为要“让领导先走”，因此所有学生坐在原位不动，让礼堂最前排的领导们从容走出，结果288名学生被活活烧死，37名老师也被烧死，另有130位不同程度的烧伤，其中重伤60余人。
注目礼
礼仪顾问（来自市教育局）：
很好，去吧，准备上台，我们马上开始
表演。在最前面的两排
领导们已经落座，不可以让他们
等待。你们不得出任何差错，
这是汇报演出，一定要全力以赴。
记住，头要稍稍低下一点，
不要令人觉得你眼睛向上，
领导们坐在前面，沙发比舞台低。
不要盯着看，这不礼貌，如果有谁怯场，
最好的方法是想象你们看到满地西瓜
（严肃点，我只是打个比方，不是类比）。
切记，你们要干净利落，上场要快，
退场之前一定要鞠躬，要整齐划一，不要匆忙，
然后快速退场，不要等着鼓掌。
接着从外面绕一圈由正门进入后面的座位，
不要发出任何声音，以免影响接着的活动。
领导上台时，你们要热烈鼓掌，
领导表扬你们的演出，你们的鼓掌要更加热烈。
领导离开时，你们要坐在座位上，
领导走过你们身边的走道时，你们要转身行注目礼。
你们不要立即站起来冲出礼堂，
就好像你们家的来客需要时间道别，领导也一样，
因此你们要等老师的通知，才能一排一排地有秩序离开。
现在，第一组表演者上场，第二、三组站到幕后准备，
第四、五组站在幕后的台下，你们不可以发出任何声音。
不可见的眼睛（不知来自何处）：
当舞台失火时，学生们坐在座位上没有站起来，
高音喇叭中一个官员的声音穿过浓烟传来：
学生们不要动！让领导先走！
二十几位领导安全而整洁地离开了，身后留下
288具尸体，年龄从8岁到14岁，没有行注目礼，
还有37具成人尸体，他们双臂展开犹如母鸡护着小鸡。
他们来自8所小学，7所中学，为了省城领导
视察验收市扫除文盲运动的成果而进行汇报演出。
那是1994年12月8日，中国新疆的克拉玛依市，
那日，全国各级院校正在隆重纪念一二九抗日救亡运动。
2008年5月8日
Etiquette advisor (deputy chairman of the Party from the Bureau of Education):
Now, go, go on to the stage, and let us do
Our performing. In the first rows
The leaders have already seated and they are not
To be kept waiting. Yours is not an entertainment,
Yours is a report back, and let’s do our best.
Remember to lower your heads a little,
Do not appear to look down your noses
As in the stalls the leaders sit low in their chairs!
Do not stare, and you can imagine you are looking at watermelons
(Don’t laugh, this is only a simile, not an analogue).
Remember to be neat; come onto the stage quick,
and exit after a bow, slow and in order. Exit quick.
Do not wait for applause, and then go out
And re-enter from the main entrance to your seats in the rear.
Do not make any noise,
And applause hard when the leaders go onto the stage again,
And applause harder when they praise your performance.
Remain seated when the leaders leave the stage,
And eye salute them as they walk down the aisle.
Allow some time for the leaders to leave the yard
And remain seated and keep silent
Until you are directed by your teacher to leave row by row.
Invisible Eyes (from Nowhere):
The students remained seated when fire broke out during the show,
As an official’s voice was heard out of the smoke through the loud speakers:
Don’t move, students! Let the leaders go first!
Twenty some leaders were all safe and clean, their etiquette perfect,
Leaving behind 288 young burnt corpses between 8 and 14 years old
And 37 adults, their arms spread like desperate hens over their chickens.
The students were enlisted from 8 primary schools and 7 middle schools
To entertain the leaders from the Province came to inspect
The municipal’s achievements in the Illiteracy-Elimination Movement.
That was on December 8, 1994 in Kelamayi, Xinjiang, China,
And people over the country were commemorating Dec. 9th Anti-Japan Movement.
May 3, 2008
Bare Fact News：
1994年12月8日，克拉玛依市举行学生汇报演出，礼堂大火，但是因为要“让领导先走”，因此所有学生坐在原位不动，让礼堂最前排的领导们从容走出，结果288名学生被活活烧死，37名老师也被烧死，另有130位不同程度的烧伤，其中重伤60余人。
注目礼
礼仪顾问（来自市教育局）：
很好，去吧，准备上台，我们马上开始
表演。在最前面的两排
领导们已经落座，不可以让他们
等待。你们不得出任何差错，
这是汇报演出，一定要全力以赴。
记住，头要稍稍低下一点，
不要令人觉得你眼睛向上，
领导们坐在前面，沙发比舞台低。
不要盯着看，这不礼貌，如果有谁怯场，
最好的方法是想象你们看到满地西瓜
（严肃点，我只是打个比方，不是类比）。
切记，你们要干净利落，上场要快，
退场之前一定要鞠躬，要整齐划一，不要匆忙，
然后快速退场，不要等着鼓掌。
接着从外面绕一圈由正门进入后面的座位，
不要发出任何声音，以免影响接着的活动。
领导上台时，你们要热烈鼓掌，
领导表扬你们的演出，你们的鼓掌要更加热烈。
领导离开时，你们要坐在座位上，
领导走过你们身边的走道时，你们要转身行注目礼。
你们不要立即站起来冲出礼堂，
就好像你们家的来客需要时间道别，领导也一样，
因此你们要等老师的通知，才能一排一排地有秩序离开。
现在，第一组表演者上场，第二、三组站到幕后准备，
第四、五组站在幕后的台下，你们不可以发出任何声音。
不可见的眼睛（不知来自何处）：
当舞台失火时，学生们坐在座位上没有站起来，
高音喇叭中一个官员的声音穿过浓烟传来：
学生们不要动！让领导先走！
二十几位领导安全而整洁地离开了，身后留下
288具尸体，年龄从8岁到14岁，没有行注目礼，
还有37具成人尸体，他们双臂展开犹如母鸡护着小鸡。
他们来自8所小学，7所中学，为了省城领导
视察验收市扫除文盲运动的成果而进行汇报演出。
那是1994年12月8日，中国新疆的克拉玛依市，
那日，全国各级院校正在隆重纪念一二九抗日救亡运动。
2008年5月8日
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Fan Jinghua: The Clearer Side of the Road
The Clearer Side of the Road
The day my eyes met with yours, we were almost blinded by each other.
You appeared to me an embossed figure from a still-life,
and could barely speak my tongue,
the first in my remembered life
who had to use so many gestures and facial expressions
to get across something otherwise too simple and routine.
You might as well take my hand and lead me to a site or a sight,
but I guess that would make you feel we went too intimate.
By and by, you said so many memorable sentences
that I might have teased you, repeating once or twice,
and now I have entirely forgotten and regret for not having copied them down
in my exercise books on which I scratched my hair off
for startling collocations and juxtapositions
to make poems.
Poetry, then, was elsewhere, beyond the horizon,
but as time went by, it came closer and closer,
and you realized that you had found it earlier than me
and you kept quiet.
You continued to marvel at me, and into a black spiral bound notebook,
rarely seen at that time, you copied every line I wrote,
from magazines, newsletters and bulletins, and my handwritten carbon copies.
In those years I always thought I would have numerous new starts,
like every New Year’s Resolution,
while the extraordinariness of your words sounded gradually naturalized.
I have nothing left of what you collected, except for your memory
which comes back, on and off, beyond my grasp.
And my memory is, sorry to admit,
leaky. It’s always my mismemory that performs automatic repairs and comforts,
but it can never patch up the loss of your speech.
That is a hole in the air, contracting and extruding like a womb, but no baby comes.
People really die
when they are no longer heard,
and what I quote from you can barely be called truly yours.
Therefore, when I claim that you said these before,
it is me who superimposes and usurps,
not because my words transcend time and space or life and death,
but merely because I still try to be heard after you stopped.
These are your last words, and they become last
only because my current memory and wisdom deems them the most clearly heard
before your silence, and obviously this has significantly shortened your life.
“Many spokes grow at the cross-road under the lamppost’s Quixotic eye,
and very likely you will fall if you go in there.
You will stumble on your own shadows, and when you fall
you will trip up all your shadows too.
So I decide from now on I will walk on the dimmer side of the road,
and my shadows may be thrown onto the roadside bush;
but, you must walk beside me, on the clearer side.
When I lean on you, you have to bear my full weight, unbendingly, unflinchingly,
but only your shadow may fall upon me, gentlemanly.”
April 29, 2008
影子较少的那一边
那日我们初见，四目相对，眼前一黑，你
如静物中的浮雕凸现，几乎不会说我的语言。
我迄今的记忆中，惟有你动用过那么多手势与表情，
仅仅为了传达一个尤其简单而寻常的概念；
当然，那是在我明白了之后。
其实你只要牵着我的手，走到一个现场，
一切就自会了然，
如今想来，那也许令你觉得我们过分亲近。
渐渐地，你说出了很多值得记忆的句子，
而我当时不过是重复一两次、取笑一番，
而今那些话我都已忘了，只留下遗憾；
怎么没有将它们抄入我的练习本，
穿插在我为了做诗而绞尽脑汁的
惊人的搭配与玄乎的并置之中。
那时，诗，只在他处，在地平线之外，
而随着时间流逝，它才越来越近；
你显然已先于我发现这个秘密，
但你秘而不宣，
继续钦佩着我，将我的每一行文字
从杂志、学生报纸与社团通讯、以及我复写的手稿上
转抄到当时难得一见的螺旋式黑封笔记本中。
那几年，我一直以为将有无数个崭新的开始等着我，
犹如每一项新年愿望都必然易如反掌地实现，
而你生涩有趣的语言却在日渐日常。
而今你收集过的一切我都已不剩，惟有关于你的记忆
时断时续地浮现，超出我的把握。
而我不得不遗憾地承认，我的记忆
有些残障，总是我的错误记忆来安慰我，进行着自动修补，
而从未补缀得了你言语的丧失；
它是空气中的一个洞，收缩、推挤，犹如阵痛的子宫，可是并没有婴儿。
人若不被他人听到，
确实会死。
那么即便我引述了你的话，也很难说那是真正来自于你。
当我声称你说过什么，
那便是我的僭越篡改；
这不是因为我的话能够超越时空或者生死，
而仅仅是因为当你不再努力让别人听见之后我还有如此企图。
我说，以下是你最后的话，而它们之所以是最后
只是我按照此刻的记忆与智慧认定它们是你沉默前最清晰的声音，
而这非常显然地缩短了你的生命。
“堂吉诃德的灯柱下，十字路口，许多黑辐条在转动，
如果你走到那儿，你就会摔倒。
你会被自己的影子绊倒，而你倒下时
也会将你的影子绊倒。
所以我决定从今天起我只沿着阴暗的一边，
将影子甩在路旁的树丛上；
但是，你，必须在影子较少的那边陪着我。
如果我靠着你，你必须承受我的全部重量，我不许你柔软，也不许你躲让，
而你只能用影子伏在我身上，你必须做一个君子。”
2008年5月6日
The day my eyes met with yours, we were almost blinded by each other.
You appeared to me an embossed figure from a still-life,
and could barely speak my tongue,
the first in my remembered life
who had to use so many gestures and facial expressions
to get across something otherwise too simple and routine.
You might as well take my hand and lead me to a site or a sight,
but I guess that would make you feel we went too intimate.
By and by, you said so many memorable sentences
that I might have teased you, repeating once or twice,
and now I have entirely forgotten and regret for not having copied them down
in my exercise books on which I scratched my hair off
for startling collocations and juxtapositions
to make poems.
Poetry, then, was elsewhere, beyond the horizon,
but as time went by, it came closer and closer,
and you realized that you had found it earlier than me
and you kept quiet.
You continued to marvel at me, and into a black spiral bound notebook,
rarely seen at that time, you copied every line I wrote,
from magazines, newsletters and bulletins, and my handwritten carbon copies.
In those years I always thought I would have numerous new starts,
like every New Year’s Resolution,
while the extraordinariness of your words sounded gradually naturalized.
I have nothing left of what you collected, except for your memory
which comes back, on and off, beyond my grasp.
And my memory is, sorry to admit,
leaky. It’s always my mismemory that performs automatic repairs and comforts,
but it can never patch up the loss of your speech.
That is a hole in the air, contracting and extruding like a womb, but no baby comes.
People really die
when they are no longer heard,
and what I quote from you can barely be called truly yours.
Therefore, when I claim that you said these before,
it is me who superimposes and usurps,
not because my words transcend time and space or life and death,
but merely because I still try to be heard after you stopped.
These are your last words, and they become last
only because my current memory and wisdom deems them the most clearly heard
before your silence, and obviously this has significantly shortened your life.
“Many spokes grow at the cross-road under the lamppost’s Quixotic eye,
and very likely you will fall if you go in there.
You will stumble on your own shadows, and when you fall
you will trip up all your shadows too.
So I decide from now on I will walk on the dimmer side of the road,
and my shadows may be thrown onto the roadside bush;
but, you must walk beside me, on the clearer side.
When I lean on you, you have to bear my full weight, unbendingly, unflinchingly,
but only your shadow may fall upon me, gentlemanly.”
April 29, 2008
影子较少的那一边
那日我们初见，四目相对，眼前一黑，你
如静物中的浮雕凸现，几乎不会说我的语言。
我迄今的记忆中，惟有你动用过那么多手势与表情，
仅仅为了传达一个尤其简单而寻常的概念；
当然，那是在我明白了之后。
其实你只要牵着我的手，走到一个现场，
一切就自会了然，
如今想来，那也许令你觉得我们过分亲近。
渐渐地，你说出了很多值得记忆的句子，
而我当时不过是重复一两次、取笑一番，
而今那些话我都已忘了，只留下遗憾；
怎么没有将它们抄入我的练习本，
穿插在我为了做诗而绞尽脑汁的
惊人的搭配与玄乎的并置之中。
那时，诗，只在他处，在地平线之外，
而随着时间流逝，它才越来越近；
你显然已先于我发现这个秘密，
但你秘而不宣，
继续钦佩着我，将我的每一行文字
从杂志、学生报纸与社团通讯、以及我复写的手稿上
转抄到当时难得一见的螺旋式黑封笔记本中。
那几年，我一直以为将有无数个崭新的开始等着我，
犹如每一项新年愿望都必然易如反掌地实现，
而你生涩有趣的语言却在日渐日常。
而今你收集过的一切我都已不剩，惟有关于你的记忆
时断时续地浮现，超出我的把握。
而我不得不遗憾地承认，我的记忆
有些残障，总是我的错误记忆来安慰我，进行着自动修补，
而从未补缀得了你言语的丧失；
它是空气中的一个洞，收缩、推挤，犹如阵痛的子宫，可是并没有婴儿。
人若不被他人听到，
确实会死。
那么即便我引述了你的话，也很难说那是真正来自于你。
当我声称你说过什么，
那便是我的僭越篡改；
这不是因为我的话能够超越时空或者生死，
而仅仅是因为当你不再努力让别人听见之后我还有如此企图。
我说，以下是你最后的话，而它们之所以是最后
只是我按照此刻的记忆与智慧认定它们是你沉默前最清晰的声音，
而这非常显然地缩短了你的生命。
“堂吉诃德的灯柱下，十字路口，许多黑辐条在转动，
如果你走到那儿，你就会摔倒。
你会被自己的影子绊倒，而你倒下时
也会将你的影子绊倒。
所以我决定从今天起我只沿着阴暗的一边，
将影子甩在路旁的树丛上；
但是，你，必须在影子较少的那边陪着我。
如果我靠着你，你必须承受我的全部重量，我不许你柔软，也不许你躲让，
而你只能用影子伏在我身上，你必须做一个君子。”
2008年5月6日
Lyre: Tonight, Plum Florets
Tonight, Plum Florets
Lyre tr. Fan Jinghua
You come, and plum flowers will bloom
They are still on the hill, on the deep-rooted thick twigs
Plum florets are still there. Cold Beauty by a pavilion, fragrance
Of the past year, lake water grinding it into fine grains
Beyond the hillside, beyond the afternoon, the flowers turn their heads
And see one bird gliding by another bird
Its sight touches the floating clouds, and the florets
Touch their life’s gravestone
Tonight, plum blooms are a stroke of dense blood
Incidentally returning to paper, abandoned
If you come, plum florets will open, and there will be
Secret lip-rouge, two ears
Biting each other, and the chill falling of
Sleepiness. Tonight, plum bloom returns to paper
3 a.m. during a fever on March 6, 2000
今夜，梅花回到纸上
莱耳
你来，梅花就开
梅花还在山上，根深枝密
梅花还在。冷艳亭边，去年的
香气，已经被湖水细细捻碎
隔着山坡，隔着午后，梅花回望
一只鸟擦过另一只鸟
然后就碰到山后的流云，梅花
就碰到一生的墓碑
今夜，梅花成一抹浓艳的血
偶然间回到纸上，放纵
你来，梅花就开，用一些
秘密的口红，用一只耳朵
咬着另一只耳朵，用渐渐冷却的
睡眠。今夜，梅花回到纸上
2000年3月6日凌晨3点于发烧中
Ref. Lyre's "For You"
译后：
早前翻译《今夜，梅花回到纸上》时，读到的是一种“示弱”，这种示弱是对自己的弱力的运用，有一种凭借娇媚暗暗发力的劲道。这里复沓的“你来，梅花就开”既是一种发嗲诱惑、一种大胆挑衅又可以是一种乞求。而诗中间部分的鸟擦过鸟以及梅花碰到自己墓碑似乎是中文由来已久的某种传统，前者如浮萍的相遇后者如《葬花词》，但是紧接着的梅花化成血回到纸上，则不仅仅是泣血写诗，也暗含着艺术长于生命的观念。最后一节将生理上的热与冷融进了情感生命层面的热与冷，前文的冷艳得到绝佳的映证。
最近翻译的这首《给你》显然和发烧中的“弱”女子很不一样，当然这中间有了整整八年，怎么说心态也成熟了很多。即使面对两人都未曾面对过的景致，“我”也不再摽着劲儿要他站在自己的身边，而是宽厚地容许他软弱黯淡，不是以自己的执著而是将他交给了“神”，而自己将接受剩下来的纯净。
后一首诗中，“我”所欲的是“洗净”后的“白色”名字，而不是前一首中以“秘密的口红”之色诱引来的那个人。对比这两首诗，看出来的不仅是语言上的差异，这一求一送之间的差异也显示了“我”对于情感人生的不同期待。
Lyre tr. Fan Jinghua
You come, and plum flowers will bloom
They are still on the hill, on the deep-rooted thick twigs
Plum florets are still there. Cold Beauty by a pavilion, fragrance
Of the past year, lake water grinding it into fine grains
Beyond the hillside, beyond the afternoon, the flowers turn their heads
And see one bird gliding by another bird
Its sight touches the floating clouds, and the florets
Touch their life’s gravestone
Tonight, plum blooms are a stroke of dense blood
Incidentally returning to paper, abandoned
If you come, plum florets will open, and there will be
Secret lip-rouge, two ears
Biting each other, and the chill falling of
Sleepiness. Tonight, plum bloom returns to paper
3 a.m. during a fever on March 6, 2000
今夜，梅花回到纸上
莱耳
你来，梅花就开
梅花还在山上，根深枝密
梅花还在。冷艳亭边，去年的
香气，已经被湖水细细捻碎
隔着山坡，隔着午后，梅花回望
一只鸟擦过另一只鸟
然后就碰到山后的流云，梅花
就碰到一生的墓碑
今夜，梅花成一抹浓艳的血
偶然间回到纸上，放纵
你来，梅花就开，用一些
秘密的口红，用一只耳朵
咬着另一只耳朵，用渐渐冷却的
睡眠。今夜，梅花回到纸上
2000年3月6日凌晨3点于发烧中
Ref. Lyre's "For You"
译后：
早前翻译《今夜，梅花回到纸上》时，读到的是一种“示弱”，这种示弱是对自己的弱力的运用，有一种凭借娇媚暗暗发力的劲道。这里复沓的“你来，梅花就开”既是一种发嗲诱惑、一种大胆挑衅又可以是一种乞求。而诗中间部分的鸟擦过鸟以及梅花碰到自己墓碑似乎是中文由来已久的某种传统，前者如浮萍的相遇后者如《葬花词》，但是紧接着的梅花化成血回到纸上，则不仅仅是泣血写诗，也暗含着艺术长于生命的观念。最后一节将生理上的热与冷融进了情感生命层面的热与冷，前文的冷艳得到绝佳的映证。
最近翻译的这首《给你》显然和发烧中的“弱”女子很不一样，当然这中间有了整整八年，怎么说心态也成熟了很多。即使面对两人都未曾面对过的景致，“我”也不再摽着劲儿要他站在自己的身边，而是宽厚地容许他软弱黯淡，不是以自己的执著而是将他交给了“神”，而自己将接受剩下来的纯净。
后一首诗中，“我”所欲的是“洗净”后的“白色”名字，而不是前一首中以“秘密的口红”之色诱引来的那个人。对比这两首诗，看出来的不仅是语言上的差异，这一求一送之间的差异也显示了“我”对于情感人生的不同期待。
Monday, May 5, 2008
Fan Jinghua: Double Jeopardy
Double Jeopardy
Oh, my fond memories! They have never changed.
What have been are with me in my dreams,
Sustaining all of my alienated years.
On the dock of this strange bay, I do sometimes sit and cry,
Waiting on the waves to carry news from my mother’s land.
When they say, how enslaved the people is,
I turn away my face and nod, as if my heart is prodded by fire-tongs.
After so many years, it remains what it was when I escaped
And my black hair has turned grey.
Her poverty justifies my turning back to it,
Her primitiveness sentimentalizes my memories.
Oh, my homeland, my first love, may you be always rustic and underdeveloped,
All your people living hard as slaves, hardworking and taciturn.
Let me alone suffer in this industrialized democratic state.
May 4, 2008
双重危境
哦，我魂牵梦绕的记忆！它们从未改变。
过去的景象一直伴随我，
在这异化的岁月里维系我的精神。
确实，我有时也会坐在这异乡的码头，遥望而垂泪，
期待海浪吹来母亲之土的消息。
它们说，那是一个被奴役的国度，
我转过脸去，点头，犹如我的心被炭火的钳子戳动。
这么多年过去了，她依然是我逃离时的模样，
而今我的黑发已成白头。
她的贫困令我离开得理所当然，
她的原始令我的记忆充满感伤。
啊，我的故土， 我的初恋，愿你永远小农而落后，
你的人民勤劳、无怨、悲苦地生存，
让我独自在这工业化的民主之国承担你的苦难。
2008年5月4日
Oh, my fond memories! They have never changed.
What have been are with me in my dreams,
Sustaining all of my alienated years.
On the dock of this strange bay, I do sometimes sit and cry,
Waiting on the waves to carry news from my mother’s land.
When they say, how enslaved the people is,
I turn away my face and nod, as if my heart is prodded by fire-tongs.
After so many years, it remains what it was when I escaped
And my black hair has turned grey.
Her poverty justifies my turning back to it,
Her primitiveness sentimentalizes my memories.
Oh, my homeland, my first love, may you be always rustic and underdeveloped,
All your people living hard as slaves, hardworking and taciturn.
Let me alone suffer in this industrialized democratic state.
May 4, 2008
双重危境
哦，我魂牵梦绕的记忆！它们从未改变。
过去的景象一直伴随我，
在这异化的岁月里维系我的精神。
确实，我有时也会坐在这异乡的码头，遥望而垂泪，
期待海浪吹来母亲之土的消息。
它们说，那是一个被奴役的国度，
我转过脸去，点头，犹如我的心被炭火的钳子戳动。
这么多年过去了，她依然是我逃离时的模样，
而今我的黑发已成白头。
她的贫困令我离开得理所当然，
她的原始令我的记忆充满感伤。
啊，我的故土， 我的初恋，愿你永远小农而落后，
你的人民勤劳、无怨、悲苦地生存，
让我独自在这工业化的民主之国承担你的苦难。
2008年5月4日
Lyre: For You
For You
Lyre tr. Fan Jinghua
This is the landscape we have never seen before.
In front of her face, I forgive your lack of luster,
And I’ll leave you alone in the sun and free
to shed as many tears as you like.
After the supper smoke dissolves behind us, god will
have washed you clean and returned you to me.
Mountains and rivers meander as ever, and I no longer permit you
to be broken once again. Your white name under the blue
starry sky will broaden the water
March 11, 2008
给你
莱耳
这是我们从未见过的景色
在她面前，我原谅你的黯淡
让你一个人呆着，阳光下
流很多的眼泪
我们身后的炊烟散去，神
洗净你，并把你还给我
山河婉转，我不许你再破碎
蓝色星空下，你白色的名字
使河水更辽阔
2008年3月11日
Lyre tr. Fan Jinghua
This is the landscape we have never seen before.
In front of her face, I forgive your lack of luster,
And I’ll leave you alone in the sun and free
to shed as many tears as you like.
After the supper smoke dissolves behind us, god will
have washed you clean and returned you to me.
Mountains and rivers meander as ever, and I no longer permit you
to be broken once again. Your white name under the blue
starry sky will broaden the water
March 11, 2008
给你
莱耳
这是我们从未见过的景色
在她面前，我原谅你的黯淡
让你一个人呆着，阳光下
流很多的眼泪
我们身后的炊烟散去，神
洗净你，并把你还给我
山河婉转，我不许你再破碎
蓝色星空下，你白色的名字
使河水更辽阔
2008年3月11日
Lyre 莱耳About the poet:
Lyre, born in the 1960s, is the founder and sole sponsor of the poetry website (poemlife.com), perhaps the most influential poetry website in China. Her poems appear in various magazines and anthologies, and she herself is the editor-in-chief of the annual anthology (two volumes published) and monthly e-magazine (over 60 issues) of poemlife website. She lives in Shenzhen, Guangzhou.
作者：莱耳是诗歌网站“诗生活”的站长，该网站或许是中国最有影响的诗歌专业网站。她是《诗生活年选》（已出两卷）以及《诗生活网刊》（已出60多期）的主编；她的诗歌发表于多种诗刊，并收入多部诗选。现居深圳。
Saigyo Hoshi: Mountain Home- Summer
Saigyo Hoshi's Mountain Home (Summer)
西行法师《山家集》之夏
English translation Burton Watson
Chinese translation Fan Jinghua
The twilight cuckoo
now quite at home in the village—
I pretend no to hear,
hoping to make him
speak his name again
暮色中 布谷鸟
已然安居在村上了
我假装没听到它
心想这会令它
再把自己的名字报上来
In the fifth-month rains
no trace of a path
where I can make my way,
meadows of bamboo grass
awash in muddy water
五月的雨
淹没了小路
我无处落脚
竹草青青
被泥浆水漫过
In willow shade
where clear water flows
by the wayside—
“Just a while!” I said,
as I stopped to rest
柳荫下
碧水流
人迹罕至
我驻足停留
就歇一小会儿吧，我说
Across the face of the field
wilted grasses
darken:
the chill clouding-over
of a sudden storm sky
旷野的糙脸上
散落着
枯黑的草
暴雨骤降前
冷冷的乌云低垂
Traveler pushing his way
through a summer meadow,
grasses so thick
his sedge hat seems
to float over their tips
夏日炎炎
又浓又高的草丛
分开一道口子
一顶草帽
漂浮在梢头
西行法师《山家集》之夏
English translation Burton Watson
Chinese translation Fan Jinghua
The twilight cuckoo
now quite at home in the village—
I pretend no to hear,
hoping to make him
speak his name again
暮色中 布谷鸟
已然安居在村上了
我假装没听到它
心想这会令它
再把自己的名字报上来
In the fifth-month rains
no trace of a path
where I can make my way,
meadows of bamboo grass
awash in muddy water
五月的雨
淹没了小路
我无处落脚
竹草青青
被泥浆水漫过
In willow shade
where clear water flows
by the wayside—
“Just a while!” I said,
as I stopped to rest
柳荫下
碧水流
人迹罕至
我驻足停留
就歇一小会儿吧，我说
Across the face of the field
wilted grasses
darken:
the chill clouding-over
of a sudden storm sky
旷野的糙脸上
散落着
枯黑的草
暴雨骤降前
冷冷的乌云低垂
Traveler pushing his way
through a summer meadow,
grasses so thick
his sedge hat seems
to float over their tips
夏日炎炎
又浓又高的草丛
分开一道口子
一顶草帽
漂浮在梢头
Saigyo Hoshi 西行法师 1118-1190
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Fan Jinghua: Heart's Desire
Heart’s Desire
Always, I have played with the stubborn vision that my beloved would
Walk down from the screen wall of time
and sit in front of me.
We gaze, we whisper, our words clogging and flowing like algae-jammed stream,
And yet we feel the music gurgling between us.
Then the day is over; then the night is over.
When the rosy sky lifts and fades,
My face and eyes grow dim and opaque.
The sunrays strike light into my mind:
For the whole night I have been waiting for this moment to prove
That a new day will never come to us.
Now my fear is exposed like justice is done,
And I barely manage not to turn my head to your back.
Loss, if not lost twice, is not a loss,
And I dare not again bring my beloved to mind.
May 4, 2008
心爱的人
总会痴愚地玩弄一个愿景
那心中珍爱的人会突然从时间的墙幕上走下来
坐在我的对面
我们凝视 我们低语 我们的话像绿藻堵塞的流水一样行止
可我们能感到我们中间涓涓的音乐
然后白天就黑了 然后黑夜就白了
当晨曦铺展的玫瑰开始褪色
我的脸和眼睛都黯淡无光
阳光刺目 我豁然开窍
原来 我彻夜都在等待这个时刻向我证明
新的一天不是为我们而来
恐惧被揭露 犹如正义得到伸张
于是我好不容易忍住 没有回头看你离去的背影
——丧失 没有失去两次 就不算失去
我再也不敢唤醒心底珍爱的人
2008年5月4日
Always, I have played with the stubborn vision that my beloved would
Walk down from the screen wall of time
and sit in front of me.
We gaze, we whisper, our words clogging and flowing like algae-jammed stream,
And yet we feel the music gurgling between us.
Then the day is over; then the night is over.
When the rosy sky lifts and fades,
My face and eyes grow dim and opaque.
The sunrays strike light into my mind:
For the whole night I have been waiting for this moment to prove
That a new day will never come to us.
Now my fear is exposed like justice is done,
And I barely manage not to turn my head to your back.
Loss, if not lost twice, is not a loss,
And I dare not again bring my beloved to mind.
May 4, 2008
心爱的人
总会痴愚地玩弄一个愿景
那心中珍爱的人会突然从时间的墙幕上走下来
坐在我的对面
我们凝视 我们低语 我们的话像绿藻堵塞的流水一样行止
可我们能感到我们中间涓涓的音乐
然后白天就黑了 然后黑夜就白了
当晨曦铺展的玫瑰开始褪色
我的脸和眼睛都黯淡无光
阳光刺目 我豁然开窍
原来 我彻夜都在等待这个时刻向我证明
新的一天不是为我们而来
恐惧被揭露 犹如正义得到伸张
于是我好不容易忍住 没有回头看你离去的背影
——丧失 没有失去两次 就不算失去
我再也不敢唤醒心底珍爱的人
2008年5月4日
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Cao Shuying: Untitled
Untitled
Cao Shuying (1979-) tr. Fan Jinghua
One fine day, I will use transparent material
To build a terraced pavilion and a storied belvedere
And a small bridge without balustrades
The steps there do not go from the lower to the upper
Waterfowls will all abandon their usual angle
I will use a boundless mirror to make a boundless lake
On which you will see no face from the past
By then I may not be ashamed to say
Everything I do is done for you
And this is our sky and earth
Even by now I can still write it
Sing it and see
Yes, I can see it whenever I want to
Just like I can see tonight which is both warm and cold
While you are still in sound sleep and the same physics
Goes in all the weepings
December 16, 2007
无题
曹疏影
总有一天，我要用透明的材料
搭出亭台和楼榭
没有栏杆的小桥
台阶不再自下而上
水鸟也放弃一贯的角度
用无限的镜子制作无限的湖泊
在它上面，你看不见往昔的任何面孔
那时我就可以告诉你
这一切都是为你
这是我们的天地
即使是现在，我也可以写它
唱它，看见它
是的，我想看见就能看见
如同看见这样一个有冷有暖的今夜
你仍熟睡，物理学
仍存在于所有的哭泣之中
2007．12．16
Cao Shuying (1979-) 曹疏影
About the poet:
Cao Shuying was born in 1979 in Hei Long Jiang Province (the northeastern part of China) and educated in Beijing University. She obtained a BA from Chinese Department and an MA in Comparative Literature. Her published books include Puppets on Strings (poetry), Cornel Box (Golden Flower Box) (poetry), Fishing with Humi Cat (children) and Tales from Bitter Bodhi Bay (children). She now lives in Hong Kong as a freelancer and an editor.
作者：曹疏影，哈尔滨人，北京大学中文系学士、比较文学硕士。现旅居香港，为自由撰稿人。诗作结集为《拉线木偶》、《茱萸箱》，另写有童话集《和呼咪一起钓鱼》、《苦菩湾故事》。
Cao Shuying (1979-) tr. Fan Jinghua
One fine day, I will use transparent material
To build a terraced pavilion and a storied belvedere
And a small bridge without balustrades
The steps there do not go from the lower to the upper
Waterfowls will all abandon their usual angle
I will use a boundless mirror to make a boundless lake
On which you will see no face from the past
By then I may not be ashamed to say
Everything I do is done for you
And this is our sky and earth
Even by now I can still write it
Sing it and see
Yes, I can see it whenever I want to
Just like I can see tonight which is both warm and cold
While you are still in sound sleep and the same physics
Goes in all the weepings
December 16, 2007
无题
曹疏影
总有一天，我要用透明的材料
搭出亭台和楼榭
没有栏杆的小桥
台阶不再自下而上
水鸟也放弃一贯的角度
用无限的镜子制作无限的湖泊
在它上面，你看不见往昔的任何面孔
那时我就可以告诉你
这一切都是为你
这是我们的天地
即使是现在，我也可以写它
唱它，看见它
是的，我想看见就能看见
如同看见这样一个有冷有暖的今夜
你仍熟睡，物理学
仍存在于所有的哭泣之中
2007．12．16
Cao Shuying (1979-) 曹疏影About the poet:
Cao Shuying was born in 1979 in Hei Long Jiang Province (the northeastern part of China) and educated in Beijing University. She obtained a BA from Chinese Department and an MA in Comparative Literature. Her published books include Puppets on Strings (poetry), Cornel Box (Golden Flower Box) (poetry), Fishing with Humi Cat (children) and Tales from Bitter Bodhi Bay (children). She now lives in Hong Kong as a freelancer and an editor.
作者：曹疏影，哈尔滨人，北京大学中文系学士、比较文学硕士。现旅居香港，为自由撰稿人。诗作结集为《拉线木偶》、《茱萸箱》，另写有童话集《和呼咪一起钓鱼》、《苦菩湾故事》。
Li Po: Drinking Alone in the Moonlight by Witter Bynner
《月下獨酌》李白
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
Drinking Alone with the Moon
tr Witter Bynner 1929(?)
From a pot of wine among the flowers
I drank alone. There was no one with me–
Till, raising my cup, I asked the bright moon
To bring me my shadow and make us three.
Alas, the moon was unable to drink
And my shadow tagged me vacantly;
But still for a while I had these friends.
To cheer me through the end of spring . . .
I sang. The moon encouraged me.
I danced. My shadow tumbled after.
As long as I knew, we were boon companions.
And then I was drunk, and we lost one another.
. . . Shall goodwill ever be secure?
I watch the long road of the River of Stars.
tr Witter Bynner 1929(?)
From a pot of wine among the flowers
I drank alone. There was no one with me–
Till, raising my cup, I asked the bright moon
To bring me my shadow and make us three.
Alas, the moon was unable to drink
And my shadow tagged me vacantly;
But still for a while I had these friends.
To cheer me through the end of spring . . .
I sang. The moon encouraged me.
I danced. My shadow tumbled after.
As long as I knew, we were boon companions.
And then I was drunk, and we lost one another.
. . . Shall goodwill ever be secure?
I watch the long road of the River of Stars.
back-translation:
与月亮独饮
惠特·拜纳 英译(1929?)
从花丛中的壶中
我独自饮酒。没有人与我同坐——
接着，我举杯，请求明月
为我带来影子，于是我们成了三个。
唉，月亮不会喝酒，
而我的影子紧跟着我，茫然地；
但我起码暂时有了这些朋友。
令我振作，直到春尽……
我唱歌。月亮予以鼓励。
我跳舞。影子紧紧相随。
只要我还有知，我们就是好朋友。
然后我醉了，我们就失去了彼此。
……善意能否永远可期？
我遥看星河之路绵延悠长。
Li Po: Drinking Alone in the Moonlight by Shigeyoshi Obata
Chinese Painting After the poem by a contemporary artist《月下獨酌》李白
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
Three with the Moon and his Shadow
tr. Shigeyoshi Obata (1922)
With a jar of wine I sit by the flowering trees.
I drink alone, and where are my friends?
Ah, the moon above looks down on me;
I call and lift my cup to his brightness.
And see, there goes my shadow before me.
Ho! We’re a party of three, I say,–
Though the poor moon can’t drink,
And my shadow but dances around me,
We’re all friends to-night,
The drinker, the moon and the shadow.
Let our revelry be suited to the spring!
I sing, the wild moon wanders the sky.
I dance, my shadow goes tumbling about.
While we’re awake, let us join in carousal;
Only sweet drunkenness shall ever part us.
Let us pledge a friendship no mortals know,
And often hail each other at evening
Far across the vast and vaporous space!
tr. Shigeyoshi Obata (1922)
With a jar of wine I sit by the flowering trees.
I drink alone, and where are my friends?
Ah, the moon above looks down on me;
I call and lift my cup to his brightness.
And see, there goes my shadow before me.
Ho! We’re a party of three, I say,–
Though the poor moon can’t drink,
And my shadow but dances around me,
We’re all friends to-night,
The drinker, the moon and the shadow.
Let our revelry be suited to the spring!
I sing, the wild moon wanders the sky.
I dance, my shadow goes tumbling about.
While we’re awake, let us join in carousal;
Only sweet drunkenness shall ever part us.
Let us pledge a friendship no mortals know,
And often hail each other at evening
Far across the vast and vaporous space!
back-translation
与月亮和自己的影子成为三个
小畑薰良 英译(1922)
带着一壶酒，我坐在开花的树丛下。
独自饮着，我的朋友在何处？
啊，天上的月亮俯瞰着我；
我喊它，为它的明亮而举杯。
可是，看啊，我的影子在我眼前。
呵！我们这就三人成众了，我说——
虽然可怜的月亮并不会饮酒，
而我的影子也就是围着我舞动，
今夜，我们都是好友，
饮者、月亮与这影子。
让我们的欢宴不辱春光！
我唱，狂乱的月亮便在天上游走。
我舞，我的影子在周围晃荡。
趁着清醒，我们一起加入狂欢；
只有甜美的沉醉才可将我们分离。
让我们誓言永葆人间不识的友谊，
常在黄昏彼此呼唤，
隔着烟霭缥缈的杳阔苍天！
带着一壶酒，我坐在开花的树丛下。
独自饮着，我的朋友在何处？
啊，天上的月亮俯瞰着我；
我喊它，为它的明亮而举杯。
可是，看啊，我的影子在我眼前。
呵！我们这就三人成众了，我说——
虽然可怜的月亮并不会饮酒，
而我的影子也就是围着我舞动，
今夜，我们都是好友，
饮者、月亮与这影子。
让我们的欢宴不辱春光！
我唱，狂乱的月亮便在天上游走。
我舞，我的影子在周围晃荡。
趁着清醒，我们一起加入狂欢；
只有甜美的沉醉才可将我们分离。
让我们誓言永葆人间不识的友谊，
常在黄昏彼此呼唤，
隔着烟霭缥缈的杳阔苍天！
Li Po: Drinking Alone in the Moonlight by Florence Ayscough & Amy Lowell
The original poem in a seal 《月下獨酌》李白
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
Drinking Alone in the Moonlight
tr. Florence Ayscough & Amy Lowell (1921)
A pot of wine among flowers.
I alone, drinking, without a companion.
I lift the cup and invite the bright moon.
My shadow opposite certainly makes us three.
But the moon cannot drink,
And my shadow follows the motions of my body in vain.
For the briefest time are the moon and my shadow my companions.
Oh, be joyful! One must make the most of Spring.
I sing–the moon walks forward rhythmically;
I dance, and my shadow shatters and becomes confused.
In my waking moments we are happily blended.
When I am drunk, we are divided from one another and scattered.
For a long time I shall be obligated to wander without intention.
But we will keep our appointment by the far-off Cloudy River.
tr. Florence Ayscough & Amy Lowell (1921)
A pot of wine among flowers.
I alone, drinking, without a companion.
I lift the cup and invite the bright moon.
My shadow opposite certainly makes us three.
But the moon cannot drink,
And my shadow follows the motions of my body in vain.
For the briefest time are the moon and my shadow my companions.
Oh, be joyful! One must make the most of Spring.
I sing–the moon walks forward rhythmically;
I dance, and my shadow shatters and becomes confused.
In my waking moments we are happily blended.
When I am drunk, we are divided from one another and scattered.
For a long time I shall be obligated to wander without intention.
But we will keep our appointment by the far-off Cloudy River.
back-translation
月下独饮
弗洛仑丝·艾斯考、艾米·洛厄尔 英译(1921)
一罐酒，在花丛。
我独自，饮着，无伴。
我举杯，邀请明月。
我的影子对面，自然就成了我们三个。
但月亮不能饮。
而我影子尾随我身体的运动，徒然地。
只在最段的时光中，月亮和我的影子是我的伴儿。
哦，尽欢吧！不能虚度春光。
我歌——月亮也走上前来，很有节律；
我舞，我的影子散落了，混乱了。
在我清醒的时刻，我们在一起其乐融融。
当我醉了，我们彼此分开，各自散去。
会有很久，我将不得不好无目地的游走。
但是我们可以相约在遥远的云河。
Li Po: Drinking Alone in the Moonlight by Arthur Waley
《月下獨酌》李白
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
Drinking Alone by Moonlight
tr Arthur Waley (1919)
A cup of wine, under the flowering trees;
I drink alone, for no friend is near.
Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,
For he, with my shadow, will make three men.
The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine;
Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side.
Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave
I must make merry before the Spring is spent.
To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams;
In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks.
While we were sober, three shared the fun;
Now we are drunk, each goes his way.
May we long share our odd, inanimate feast,
And meet at last on the Cloudy River of the sky.
tr Arthur Waley (1919)
A cup of wine, under the flowering trees;
I drink alone, for no friend is near.
Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,
For he, with my shadow, will make three men.
The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine;
Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side.
Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave
I must make merry before the Spring is spent.
To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams;
In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks.
While we were sober, three shared the fun;
Now we are drunk, each goes his way.
May we long share our odd, inanimate feast,
And meet at last on the Cloudy River of the sky.
back-translation
就着月光独饮
阿瑟·魏理 英译(1919)
一杯酒，在开花的树丛下：
我独自饮着，没有朋友在侧。
举起杯子，我招邀明月，
有他，和我的影子，就成了三人。
可叹啊，月亮绝非饮者：
愁闷，我的影子在我身侧爬动。
而有这月亮之朋和影子之奴，
我必须在春天消逝前开心寻欢。
月亮为我唱的歌而熠熠生辉；
我的影子为我跳的舞而若即若离。
我们清醒之时，三人同欢共乐；
当我们醉了，各自走自己的路。
愿我们久享这没有人气的偶然宴饮，
最终到天上的云河中再聚。
阿瑟·魏理 英译(1919)
一杯酒，在开花的树丛下：
我独自饮着，没有朋友在侧。
举起杯子，我招邀明月，
有他，和我的影子，就成了三人。
可叹啊，月亮绝非饮者：
愁闷，我的影子在我身侧爬动。
而有这月亮之朋和影子之奴，
我必须在春天消逝前开心寻欢。
月亮为我唱的歌而熠熠生辉；
我的影子为我跳的舞而若即若离。
我们清醒之时，三人同欢共乐；
当我们醉了，各自走自己的路。
愿我们久享这没有人气的偶然宴饮，
最终到天上的云河中再聚。
Li Po: Drinking Alone in the Moonlight by W. J. B. Fletcher
《月下獨酌》李白
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
We Three
W. J. B. Fletcher 1919(?)
One pot of wine amid the flowers
Alone I pour, and none with me.
The cup I lift; the Moon invite;
Who with my shadow makes us three.
The moon then drinks without a pause.
The shadow does what I begin.
The shadow, Moon and I in fere
Rejoice until the spring come in.
I sing: and wavers time the moon.
I dance: the shadow antics too.
Our joys we share while sober still.
When drunk, we part and bid adieu.
Of loveless outing this the pact,
Which we all swear to keep for aye.
The next time that we meet shall be
Beside yon distant milky way.
W. J. B. Fletcher 1919(?)
One pot of wine amid the flowers
Alone I pour, and none with me.
The cup I lift; the Moon invite;
Who with my shadow makes us three.
The moon then drinks without a pause.
The shadow does what I begin.
The shadow, Moon and I in fere
Rejoice until the spring come in.
I sing: and wavers time the moon.
I dance: the shadow antics too.
Our joys we share while sober still.
When drunk, we part and bid adieu.
Of loveless outing this the pact,
Which we all swear to keep for aye.
The next time that we meet shall be
Beside yon distant milky way.
back-translation
我们仨
佛来遮 英译（约1919年）
一壶酒在花朵从中，
我独自斟酒，没人陪我。
杯子，我举着；月亮，我相邀；
有了她与我的影子，就是三人。
月亮接着饮个不停。
影子所为便是随我而动。
影子、月亮与我三人成伴，
开心地直到春天来临。
我唱：于是月亮踌躇着时光，
我舞：于是影子也动作滑稽。
我们的欢乐，我们在情形时分享，
醉了，我们分手，道别。
这是一帮人没有缠绵的出游，
我们都发誓保持这一状态。
我们的下一次相遇将是
在遥远的银河彼岸。
佛来遮 英译（约1919年）
一壶酒在花朵从中，
我独自斟酒，没人陪我。
杯子，我举着；月亮，我相邀；
有了她与我的影子，就是三人。
月亮接着饮个不停。
影子所为便是随我而动。
影子、月亮与我三人成伴，
开心地直到春天来临。
我唱：于是月亮踌躇着时光，
我舞：于是影子也动作滑稽。
我们的欢乐，我们在情形时分享，
醉了，我们分手，道别。
这是一帮人没有缠绵的出游，
我们都发誓保持这一状态。
我们的下一次相遇将是
在遥远的银河彼岸。
Li Po: Drinking Alone in the Moonlight by Ezra Pound
Calligraphy of the original poemEight Versions 3
《月下獨酌》李白
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
Amongst the flowers is a pot of wine
tr Ezra Pound 1915
Amongst the flowers is a pot of wine
I pour alone but with no friend at hand
So I lift the cup to invite the shining moon,
Along with my shadow we become party of three
The moon although understands none of drinking, and
The shadow just follows my body vainly
Still I make the moon and the shadow my company
To enjoy the springtime before too late
The moon lingers while I am singing
The shadow scatters while I am dancing
We cheer in delight when being awake
We separate apart after getting drunk
Forever will we keep this unfettered friendship
Till we meet again far in the Milky Way
back-translation
花丛中一壶酒
庞德 英译（1915年）
花丛中有一壶酒
我独自倾注，而无朋友在侧，
于是我举起杯子邀请明媚的月亮，
连同我的影子，我们形成一组三人。
月亮虽然一点不懂饮酒，而
影子只是徒然尾随我的身体
我仍然把月亮和影子当作伴儿
一起玩赏春光，免得太迟
我唱歌时月亮徘徊不去
我跳舞时影子步履凌乱
醒着的时候，我们欢快地祝酒
在醉了之后，我们各自分开
我们永远保持这种毫无羁绊的友情
直到我们再次相遇在银河
花丛中一壶酒
庞德 英译（1915年）
花丛中有一壶酒
我独自倾注，而无朋友在侧，
于是我举起杯子邀请明媚的月亮，
连同我的影子，我们形成一组三人。
月亮虽然一点不懂饮酒，而
影子只是徒然尾随我的身体
我仍然把月亮和影子当作伴儿
一起玩赏春光，免得太迟
我唱歌时月亮徘徊不去
我跳舞时影子步履凌乱
醒着的时候，我们欢快地祝酒
在醉了之后，我们各自分开
我们永远保持这种毫无羁绊的友情
直到我们再次相遇在银河
Friday, May 2, 2008
Li Po: Drinking Alone in the Moonlight by W. A. P. Martin
Eight Versions of Li Po's Drinking Alone in the Moonlight 2
《月下獨酌》李白
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
《月下獨酌》李白
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
On Drinking Alone by Moonlight
tr. W. A. P. Martin (1900? )
Here are flowers and here is wine,
But where’s a friend with me to join
Hand in hand and heart to heart
In one full cup before we part?
Rather than to drink alone,
I’ll make bold to ask the moon
To condescend to lend her face
The hour and the scene to grace.
Lo, she answers, and she brings
My shadow on her silver wings;
That makes three, and we shall be.
I ween, a merry company
The modest moon declines the cup,
But shadow promptly takes it up,
And when I dance my shadow fleet
Keeps measure with my flying feet.
But though the moon declines to tipple
She dances in yon shining ripple,
And when I sing, my festive song,
The echoes of the moon prolong.
Say, when shall we next meet together?
Surely not in cloudy weather,
For you my boon companions dear
Come only when the sky is clear.
back-translation
借着月光独饮
丁韪良 英译（约1900年）
这些是花，这儿有酒，
但是哪儿才是我的朋友
手携手、心映心地加入
饮一满杯，在我们分别之前？
与其独饮，
不如我斗胆邀请月亮
赏脸屈尊于
这个时辰，令这场景生辉。
看哦，她答应了，还以她的
银色翅膀带来我的影子：
这就成了三位，我们将有三人。
我猜想，月亮这位欢欣的伴
谦让有礼，推卸了酒杯，
倒是影子立即端起，
而当我起舞，我敏捷的影子
配合着我飘动的双脚。
虽说月亮辞谢不饮，
她却在远处闪亮的波动中舞蹈，
而当我唱着，我喜庆的歌，
月亮的回声袅袅不去。
嗨，我们何时再次相会？
肯定不会是阴霾的天气，
因为你啊，我亲爱的欢娱之伴，
只在天空清朗的时候到来。
丁韪良 英译（约1900年）
这些是花，这儿有酒，
但是哪儿才是我的朋友
手携手、心映心地加入
饮一满杯，在我们分别之前？
与其独饮，
不如我斗胆邀请月亮
赏脸屈尊于
这个时辰，令这场景生辉。
看哦，她答应了，还以她的
银色翅膀带来我的影子：
这就成了三位，我们将有三人。
我猜想，月亮这位欢欣的伴
谦让有礼，推卸了酒杯，
倒是影子立即端起，
而当我起舞，我敏捷的影子
配合着我飘动的双脚。
虽说月亮辞谢不饮，
她却在远处闪亮的波动中舞蹈，
而当我唱着，我喜庆的歌，
月亮的回声袅袅不去。
嗨，我们何时再次相会？
肯定不会是阴霾的天气，
因为你啊，我亲爱的欢娱之伴，
只在天空清朗的时候到来。
Li Po: Drinking Alone in the Moonlight by Herbert A. Giles
Chinese Greatest Poet Li Po (Li Bai) 701-762Eight Versions of Li Po's Drinking Alone in the Moonlight 1
《月下獨酌》李白
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
《月下獨酌》李白
花間一壺酒 獨酌無相親
舉杯邀明月 對影成三人
月既不解飲 影徒隨我身
暫伴月將影 行樂須及春
我歌月徘徊 我舞影零亂
醒時同交歡 醉後各分散
永結無情遊 相期邈雲漢
Last Words
tr Herbert A. Giles ~1900?
An arbor of flowers and a kettle of wine:
Alas! In the bowers no companion is mine.
Then the moon sheds her rays on my goblet and me,
And my shadow betrays we’re a party of three!
Thou’ the moon cannot swallow her share of the grog,
And my shadow must follow wherever I jog,
Yet their friendship I’ll borrow and gaily carouse,
And laugh away sorrow while spring-time allows.
See the moon–how she dances response to my song;
See my shadow–it dances so lightly along!
While sober I feel, you are both my good friends;
While drunken I reel, our companionship ends,
But we’ll soon have a greeting without a goodbye,
At our next merry meeting away in the sky.
back-translation
临终之言
翟理斯 英译（约1900年）
花朵之荫，以及一壶酒：
唉，在这些凉亭中，我没有同伴。
月亮洒下清光，在高脚杯和我身上，
我的影子说漏了我们这是三人聚会！
虽说月亮不能倾杯喝下她的那份烈酒，
而我的影子却必须紧随我随意的漫步，
我且暂借它们的友情，纵情作乐，
趁着这春光未逝，在大笑中排解愁忧。
看那月亮，她竟以舞步回应我的歌声，
看我的影子，它也随之妙曼轻舞！
我觉得清醒的时候，你俩都是我的好友，
我感到酣醉之时，我们的相伴也就结束，
但是我们很快便会不告而别，
下一次寻欢相聚将在远天之外。
Schwartz: This Is a Poem I Wrote at Night, Before the Dawn
This Is a Poem I Wrote at Night, Before the Dawn
Delmore Schwartz (1913-1966)
This is a poem I wrote before I died and was reborn:
---After the years of the apples ripening and the eagles soaring,
After the festival here the small flowers gleamed like the first stars,
And the horses cantered and romped away like the experience of skill; mastered and serene
Power, grasped and governed by reins, lightly held by knowing hands.
The horses had cantered away, far enough away
So that I saw the horses’ heads farther and farther away
And saw that they had reached the black horizon on the dusk of day
And were or seemed black thunderheads, massy and ominous waves in the doomed sky:
And it was then, for the first time, then that I said as I must always say
All through living death of night:
It is always darkness before delight!
The long night is always the beginning of the vivid blossom of day.
(1961)
我在破晓前的黑夜中写了这首诗
戴尔默·史华兹（1913-66）tr. Fan Jinghua
这首诗，是我在我死亡与未得重生之前写成：
——在此之前的多年里，苹果在成熟、苍鹰在展翅，
小花在此欢庆，犹如初升的星辰一般灿烂，
马儿碎步慢跑，好似轻车熟路；平和而受控的
力量，借由轻执在熟手中的缰绳得以把握、约束。
那些马儿已经跑开，远得
我只能眼看着马头越行越远
眼看着它们到达日近黄昏的黑色地平线
接近不祥的天空下厚重可怖的雷雨云的黑浪：
紧接着，我第一次，说出了我很久以来
必须在黑夜鲜活的死亡中说出的话：
黑暗总是挡在快乐之前！
生机绽放的新一天总是由漫长的黑夜开始。
1961年
Delmore Schwartz (1913-1966)
This is a poem I wrote before I died and was reborn:
---After the years of the apples ripening and the eagles soaring,
After the festival here the small flowers gleamed like the first stars,
And the horses cantered and romped away like the experience of skill; mastered and serene
Power, grasped and governed by reins, lightly held by knowing hands.
The horses had cantered away, far enough away
So that I saw the horses’ heads farther and farther away
And saw that they had reached the black horizon on the dusk of day
And were or seemed black thunderheads, massy and ominous waves in the doomed sky:
And it was then, for the first time, then that I said as I must always say
All through living death of night:
It is always darkness before delight!
The long night is always the beginning of the vivid blossom of day.
(1961)
我在破晓前的黑夜中写了这首诗
戴尔默·史华兹（1913-66）tr. Fan Jinghua
这首诗，是我在我死亡与未得重生之前写成：
——在此之前的多年里，苹果在成熟、苍鹰在展翅，
小花在此欢庆，犹如初升的星辰一般灿烂，
马儿碎步慢跑，好似轻车熟路；平和而受控的
力量，借由轻执在熟手中的缰绳得以把握、约束。
那些马儿已经跑开，远得
我只能眼看着马头越行越远
眼看着它们到达日近黄昏的黑色地平线
接近不祥的天空下厚重可怖的雷雨云的黑浪：
紧接着，我第一次，说出了我很久以来
必须在黑夜鲜活的死亡中说出的话：
黑暗总是挡在快乐之前！
生机绽放的新一天总是由漫长的黑夜开始。
1961年
Schwartz: Albert Einstein to Archibald MacLeish
Albert Einstein to Archibald MacLeish
Delmore Schwartz (1913-1966)
I should have been a plumber fixing drains
And mending pure white bathtubs for the great Diogenes
(who scorned all lies, all liars, and all tyrannies),
And then, perhaps, he would bestow on me—majesty!
(O modesty aside, forgive my fallen pride, O hidden majesty,
The lamp, the lantern, the lucid light he sought for
All too often—sick humanity!)
1961
艾伯特·爱因斯坦写给艾切鲍·麦克利什
戴尔默·史华兹（1913-66）
我本该做一个水暖工修理下水道
给伟大的第欧基尼镶补纯白的浴缸
（他叱骂所有的谎言、撒谎者以及一切暴君）
然后，他也许还会称呼我为——陛下！
（哦，除了谦逊，忘掉我沦陷的傲气，哦，潜在的陛下之威）
气灯、罩灯，他孜孜以求的明晰之光
都太常见了——病态的人性！）
1961年
Delmore Schwartz (1913-1966)
I should have been a plumber fixing drains
And mending pure white bathtubs for the great Diogenes
(who scorned all lies, all liars, and all tyrannies),
And then, perhaps, he would bestow on me—majesty!
(O modesty aside, forgive my fallen pride, O hidden majesty,
The lamp, the lantern, the lucid light he sought for
All too often—sick humanity!)
1961
艾伯特·爱因斯坦写给艾切鲍·麦克利什
戴尔默·史华兹（1913-66）
我本该做一个水暖工修理下水道
给伟大的第欧基尼镶补纯白的浴缸
（他叱骂所有的谎言、撒谎者以及一切暴君）
然后，他也许还会称呼我为——陛下！
（哦，除了谦逊，忘掉我沦陷的傲气，哦，潜在的陛下之威）
气灯、罩灯，他孜孜以求的明晰之光
都太常见了——病态的人性！）
1961年
Fan Jinghua: Message from Afar
Message from Afar
Yesterday evening, I was taking
my usual walk, with my son,
and came across a small bookshop.
I entered and a narrow staircase
led me upward,
to the second floor, a closed concave sky,
where people may
read leisurely over a cup of tea
Or whisper.
Few people there,
perhaps because it was family time before a TV
or it was too scriptorium-like and not eye-catching enough,
with no hubbub of a department store
or pressing promotional banners of a mall.
A still flow of music
seeps in, subliminally, there and not there.
And a sudden raid of a vision,
ineffable, overpowered me,
and I knew not where it came from,
welling up from the inner or falling down from the outer,
like the light and shadow under the broad enamel lampshade.
Do you know what came to my mind?
Do you not know what I felt?
---My son,
lovely, lively, clever and quick,
does not love books that much,
like his father.
He was born
the second year after our separation,
and he will soon turn 16.
May 2, 2008
远方来信
昨晚，和儿子散步，
避开了通常的路线，遇到
一个门脸很小的书店。
进去，
窄梯引人向上，
如入洞天。
二楼，一个书吧，
可以喝茶翻书
或者低语。
然而，顾客寥寥，
或许因为那时是全家伴着电视的天伦时光，
或许它太书斋气，太不引人注目，
没有大卖场的喧嚣或紧迫的促销条幅。
安静，被音乐渗透，更加飘忽，
令人似在其中又不在其中。
一种不可言说的愿景
突然袭来，不知是
从内部升起还是从外部降临，
犹如那台灯罩下的光与影。
你可知道我想到了什么？
你不知道我有何感？
——我的儿子
活泼可爱、机灵、调皮，
不太热衷于书，
像他爸爸。
他出生于我们分别后的第二年，
很快十六岁了。
2008年5月2日
Yesterday evening, I was taking
my usual walk, with my son,
and came across a small bookshop.
I entered and a narrow staircase
led me upward,
to the second floor, a closed concave sky,
where people may
read leisurely over a cup of tea
Or whisper.
Few people there,
perhaps because it was family time before a TV
or it was too scriptorium-like and not eye-catching enough,
with no hubbub of a department store
or pressing promotional banners of a mall.
A still flow of music
seeps in, subliminally, there and not there.
And a sudden raid of a vision,
ineffable, overpowered me,
and I knew not where it came from,
welling up from the inner or falling down from the outer,
like the light and shadow under the broad enamel lampshade.
Do you know what came to my mind?
Do you not know what I felt?
---My son,
lovely, lively, clever and quick,
does not love books that much,
like his father.
He was born
the second year after our separation,
and he will soon turn 16.
May 2, 2008
远方来信
昨晚，和儿子散步，
避开了通常的路线，遇到
一个门脸很小的书店。
进去，
窄梯引人向上，
如入洞天。
二楼，一个书吧，
可以喝茶翻书
或者低语。
然而，顾客寥寥，
或许因为那时是全家伴着电视的天伦时光，
或许它太书斋气，太不引人注目，
没有大卖场的喧嚣或紧迫的促销条幅。
安静，被音乐渗透，更加飘忽，
令人似在其中又不在其中。
一种不可言说的愿景
突然袭来，不知是
从内部升起还是从外部降临，
犹如那台灯罩下的光与影。
你可知道我想到了什么？
你不知道我有何感？
——我的儿子
活泼可爱、机灵、调皮，
不太热衷于书，
像他爸爸。
他出生于我们分别后的第二年，
很快十六岁了。
2008年5月2日
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Sharon Olds: If, Someday
If, Someday
Sharon Olds
If, someday, we had to look it back
and tell the best hours of our lives,
this was one—moving my brow
and nose around, softly, in your armpit,
as if you were running a furred palm
over my face. The skin of my body
touching your body felt actively joyful,
sated yet sipping and eating. As you fell
asleep, your penis slowly caressing me,
as if you were licking me goodbye, and I lay
slack, weightless, my body floated
on fathomless happiness. When someone
knocked on the door, you didn’t wake up,
and I didn’t wake you, and when they knocked again
I did not rouse you, I felt sure that nothing
was wrong—it was just a someone, calling,
outside heaven, and the noise of outsideness laid a
seal on our insideness. There was just this bed,
just these two, and, passing this way
and that, from angle to angle of the room—
wall, ceiling, floor, bedpost—the
curved sound-waves of their recent cries,
by now a billion, bright webs,
look back and see this.
假若，有一天
莎朗·欧兹
假若，有一天，我们必须回首
说说你我生活中最美的时光，
这将是其一——我眉头扬起
鼻子乱拱，轻轻地，在你的腋窝，
好像你正以毛皮似的手掌轻拂
我的脸颊。我的胴体以肌肤
触及你的肌肤，感受着积极的愉悦，
满足而依然吮吸吞食。当你沉沉
入睡，你的阳具缓慢地爱抚着我，
犹如你正轻舔我，说再见，而我躺着，
松软如泥，失重了，躯体漂浮于
无底的幸福之上。有人敲门，
你没有醒来，我亦没有将你
弄醒，当敲门声再次响起，我
还是没有推醒你，肯定没什么
问题——不过就是某人从天堂外
呼叫，而那外界的噪音在我们的内在
贴了一个封印。这儿只有一张大床，
只有两个人，而无论从哪个角度
走来走去，这房间就是——
墙壁、天花板、地板、床架——还有
他们刚才的呼叫声的声波弧线，
到此时已融成百万个明亮的小网，
回顾，并且看到这一切。
I have translated more than twenty poems by Sharon Olds, and a majority of them are from her book The Father, which I introduced into Chinese readers.
Sharon Olds
If, someday, we had to look it back
and tell the best hours of our lives,
this was one—moving my brow
and nose around, softly, in your armpit,
as if you were running a furred palm
over my face. The skin of my body
touching your body felt actively joyful,
sated yet sipping and eating. As you fell
asleep, your penis slowly caressing me,
as if you were licking me goodbye, and I lay
slack, weightless, my body floated
on fathomless happiness. When someone
knocked on the door, you didn’t wake up,
and I didn’t wake you, and when they knocked again
I did not rouse you, I felt sure that nothing
was wrong—it was just a someone, calling,
outside heaven, and the noise of outsideness laid a
seal on our insideness. There was just this bed,
just these two, and, passing this way
and that, from angle to angle of the room—
wall, ceiling, floor, bedpost—the
curved sound-waves of their recent cries,
by now a billion, bright webs,
look back and see this.
假若，有一天
莎朗·欧兹
假若，有一天，我们必须回首
说说你我生活中最美的时光，
这将是其一——我眉头扬起
鼻子乱拱，轻轻地，在你的腋窝，
好像你正以毛皮似的手掌轻拂
我的脸颊。我的胴体以肌肤
触及你的肌肤，感受着积极的愉悦，
满足而依然吮吸吞食。当你沉沉
入睡，你的阳具缓慢地爱抚着我，
犹如你正轻舔我，说再见，而我躺着，
松软如泥，失重了，躯体漂浮于
无底的幸福之上。有人敲门，
你没有醒来，我亦没有将你
弄醒，当敲门声再次响起，我
还是没有推醒你，肯定没什么
问题——不过就是某人从天堂外
呼叫，而那外界的噪音在我们的内在
贴了一个封印。这儿只有一张大床，
只有两个人，而无论从哪个角度
走来走去，这房间就是——
墙壁、天花板、地板、床架——还有
他们刚才的呼叫声的声波弧线，
到此时已融成百万个明亮的小网，
回顾，并且看到这一切。
I have translated more than twenty poems by Sharon Olds, and a majority of them are from her book The Father, which I introduced into Chinese readers.
Louise Glück: Mirror Image
Mirror Image
Louise Glück (1943-)
Tonight I saw myself in the dark window as
the image of my father whose life
was spent like this,
thinking of death, to the exclusion
of other sensual matters, so in the end that life
was easy to give up, since
it contained nothing: even
my mother’s voice couldn’t make him
change or turn back
as he believed
that once you can’t love another human being
you have no place in the world.
镜像
[美] 露伊丝·格利克 (1943-)
今夜我在幽暗的窗户中看到自己
是我父亲的模样，他的一生
已如此耗尽，
想到死亡，当种种
感官内容被排除，结果便是
人生很容易放弃，因为
它只容纳虚空：甚至
我母亲的声音都不能令他
改变初衷或回心转意，
他坚信
一旦你不能去爱另一个人，
你便不得占着此世。
Note to the translation:
The last line of the poetry appears to have an obvious Chinese phrase 立足之地 (a place for footing), but I have translated it into a more dynamic line, which literally means "you then shall not take a space/place in this world". For in Chinese, there is a phrase to describe a person as a walking dead because it only "takes a place in the human community" or a good-for-nothing as one who "takes the place of/ squat over a latrine pit but does not shit."
最后一句“无立足之处”开始也是自然而然的进入头脑中的，但是认真一想，整首诗歌中一个很核心的概念是 实在与空虚，因此对于一个没有内容了的人，就不应该再在这个世界“占据”一个人的空间位置。呵呵，既想到行尸走肉，又想到“占着茅坑不拉屎”。又：有时候只是想不要翻译得太平了。有时候语法上流畅了，句子就失去了惊喜感；有时候节奏和语法上有跳跃性，句子会显得不沉稳。得看一个诗人的总体性情如何。格利克应该是在沉稳、似乎平淡无奇之中，会灵光一闪的。所以就会有点想在译文的某处显示一下她的灵气。
Louise Glück (1943-)
Tonight I saw myself in the dark window as
the image of my father whose life
was spent like this,
thinking of death, to the exclusion
of other sensual matters, so in the end that life
was easy to give up, since
it contained nothing: even
my mother’s voice couldn’t make him
change or turn back
as he believed
that once you can’t love another human being
you have no place in the world.
镜像
[美] 露伊丝·格利克 (1943-)
今夜我在幽暗的窗户中看到自己
是我父亲的模样，他的一生
已如此耗尽，
想到死亡，当种种
感官内容被排除，结果便是
人生很容易放弃，因为
它只容纳虚空：甚至
我母亲的声音都不能令他
改变初衷或回心转意，
他坚信
一旦你不能去爱另一个人，
你便不得占着此世。
Note to the translation:
The last line of the poetry appears to have an obvious Chinese phrase 立足之地 (a place for footing), but I have translated it into a more dynamic line, which literally means "you then shall not take a space/place in this world". For in Chinese, there is a phrase to describe a person as a walking dead because it only "takes a place in the human community" or a good-for-nothing as one who "takes the place of/ squat over a latrine pit but does not shit."
最后一句“无立足之处”开始也是自然而然的进入头脑中的，但是认真一想，整首诗歌中一个很核心的概念是 实在与空虚，因此对于一个没有内容了的人，就不应该再在这个世界“占据”一个人的空间位置。呵呵，既想到行尸走肉，又想到“占着茅坑不拉屎”。又：有时候只是想不要翻译得太平了。有时候语法上流畅了，句子就失去了惊喜感；有时候节奏和语法上有跳跃性，句子会显得不沉稳。得看一个诗人的总体性情如何。格利克应该是在沉稳、似乎平淡无奇之中，会灵光一闪的。所以就会有点想在译文的某处显示一下她的灵气。
Chase Twichell: Animal Language
Animal Languages
Chase Twichell (1950-)
In snow, all tracks
--animal and human—
speak to one another,
a long conversation that keeps breaking off
then starting up again.
I want to read those pages
instead of the kind
made of human words.
I want to write in the language of those
who have been to that place before me.
动物语言
[美] 蔡斯·特维切尔 (1950-)
雪地上，所有踪迹
--无论是动物还是人类的—
彼此叙说，
一场长长的对话不停地断开
又重新开始。
我多想阅读这些，
而不读人类语言
制造出来的书页。
那些先于我到来此地的生灵，
我多想用它们的语言写作。
Chase Twichell (1950-)
In snow, all tracks
--animal and human—
speak to one another,
a long conversation that keeps breaking off
then starting up again.
I want to read those pages
instead of the kind
made of human words.
I want to write in the language of those
who have been to that place before me.
动物语言
[美] 蔡斯·特维切尔 (1950-)
雪地上，所有踪迹
--无论是动物还是人类的—
彼此叙说，
一场长长的对话不停地断开
又重新开始。
我多想阅读这些，
而不读人类语言
制造出来的书页。
那些先于我到来此地的生灵，
我多想用它们的语言写作。
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