Yang Jian: A Winter Day & A Countryside Scene

　　A Winter Day
　　　　　　　by YANG Jian　tr. Fan Jinghua
A small wild duck on a winter lake surface
Quacks, lonely and childishly.
I am sitting on a freezing stone bench,
Watching the water, lonely and childishly.

If we know we are but two sheep,
On the way to a slaughter house,
I will cry, and you will cry,
For being in this floating world.

　　　冬日
　　　　　　　杨健
一只小野鸭在冬日的湖面上，
孤单、稚嫩地叫着
我也坐在冰冷的石凳上，
孤单、稚嫩地望着湖水。

如果我们知道自己就是两只绵羊，
正走在去屠宰的路上，
我会哭泣，你也会哭泣
在这浮世上。

　　A Countryside Scene
　　　　　　　by YANG Jian　tr. Fan Jinghua

In winter,
The countryside is dirty, of withered yellow.
An ox’s unvarnished shadow is
The best thing they leave behind for the offspring.

The lamps are newly lit in peasants’ houses,
Further playing up
Their power of endless patience
And unspeakable loneliness and silence.

One of the peasants died yesterday.
His swollen belly
And shrunken penis
Revealed the deepest secret of life in this world

That we walk and we run,
As a punishment at a low speed,
And that the sufferings we grin and bear
Are only for a light and easy farewell.


　　乡下记
　　　　　　杨健
在冬天，
乡下邋遢而枯黄，
一头牛的老实的身影，
像他们留下的最佳遗产。

刚刚亮起的农家灯火，
更是渲染了
这里无穷的耐力
和难言的寂静。

一个农人昨天死去了，
他臃肿的肚子
和缩小的阴茎，
仿佛把人世最深的秘密都给泄露了。

我们走着，奔跑着，
啊，缓慢、缓慢的惩罚，
我们受了苦，
原是为了轻松的离去。

　　Yang Jian was born in Anhui Province in 1967. He has been a worker, and travelled widely to the border areas such as Xinjiang, and also devoted several years in studying Buddhism. He spends most of his life in the countryside of Anhui Province and he only writes about his countryside.
　　Anhui is a relatively poorer province compared to its adjacent provinces such as Jiangsu and Zhejiang. His experience may partly explain his poetry, which is charged with sympathy and mercy of the lowly life of peasants, and his language is plain and graceful. It seems that his respect for language does not allow him to describe the details a passer-by may not see. The blankness in his language makes his poetry even more powerful.
　　He published two books of poems: Nightfall (2003) and At the Ancient Bridge (2007). He is awarded the Sixth Annual Award for Literature in Chinese Language (Poetry) in 2007, perhaps the most respected Chinese literary award in 2007.

　　杨键的诗歌于此世人生宽厚悲悯、语言朴实无华却充满虔诚。这种虔诚不是对于某种宗教，而是对于生命本身。为了传达这种虔诚，他便对语言本身充满了敬畏。于是，他的诗中没有夸张的部分，朴素到甚至不会描述路过者看不到的细节。然而正是这种空白使得他的诗歌更具力量。

　　　　　　　　　　　　Yang Jian (1967-)

　　杨键1967年生于安徽，著有诗集《暮晚》（河北教育，2003），《古桥头》（上海文化，2007）。当过工人，有游历新疆等地，研究佛学。获首届刘丽安诗歌奖(1995)，第六届华语文学传媒年度诗人奖（2007）。现居马鞍山。