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