Fan Jinghua: Phoenix Tree

　　Phoenix Tree　梧桐二题

　I
The courtyard opens to a pool
of vegetables. To the right, a pigsty,
behind it to the left stands
A phoenix tree, which marks
the edge of a barnyard.
I walk into the summer, from the gate
of morning, into the night. Where the Milky Way lies,
the sky, the expansion below, the night.
Little fires fly from the water and reeds
lower than the ground. They shuttle back and forth
in the folktales flickering behind the pipes.
That was my childhood.
We were like newly relegated fairies, not knowing
whether it was the human world or the paradise
that we were living in.
The children now nickname each other as
so-and-so Taro.

　　一
院子门向外
菜畦那边一片开阔，
右前方是猪圈，它的左后侧有
一棵梧桐，场院从那儿
开始。我穿过早晨的
门，走进夏天，走进夏夜，银河横亘处
叫做天，天下叫做夜。
而萤火虫的来处，是低于地面的水草，
穿插在故事中，我的童年
围着泛红光的旱烟袋，
那时的我们似乎都是刚刚从天上
落下的，分不清
天上与人间、
神仙与人。
如今的孩子给彼此取的浑名
叫什么什么太郎。

　II
October almost over. The barks of phoenix trees
Begin to peel, showing albino patches.
I have been back for two weeks,
And I am still a guest in my hometown.
The new wife married in the first month of the year,
With a big stomach in late pregnancy
Appears to have been living here longer than me.
Everyday, she waddles to the field,
And to the pond to wash clothes and vegetables
With a dog by her, in the welcome of the pigs
And wafts of stench.
My enquiries always bring her to smiles and
She would answer with an added tag
"How can we compare with you townsmen?"
There are no men and grown-up girls in the villages,
And they have all gone to the city, living
in the villages in ghettos, where no women can be seen.
I hope to tell her
There is not much a city can compare with the countryside,
Except for neon lights and debauched air.
But this truth is only mine.
My truth untold has already made me a hypocrite.

　　二
十月将近，梧桐树干
开始剥落出一块块白斑。
归来两个星期，我还是客。
正月才过门的小媳妇
腆着肚子，似乎
比我在此生活了更久。
每天，一条草狗尾随她
膗着的脚步，从菜畦和猪圈间的小道
淘米、洗衣、下地干活；
每次送迎她的是猪叫
和一阵臭味。
我的询问总会引来
善意的笑，她的每次解释
总会加上：“哪能和你们城里人相比？”
乡下，已经没有男人，
也没有大姑娘。
他们都去了城里，住在城里
的村落，那儿看不到女人。
我想对她说，
城里除了灯红酒绿，实在没什么
可以和乡下相比，
但这只是我的实话。
我的实话未说出口就已经令我虚伪。

　　　　　　　Oct. 23, 2006
　　　　　　　2006年10月23日 初稿
　　　　　　　2008年10月3日 修改