Fan Jinghua: On Trees and Love and How to Name Them

　　On Trees and Love and How to Name Them

If one can name a tree as love, and surely
We can, as no name is not arbitrary
Then we need not point at a tree to tell love
We may only need to say “tree”
And the one who knows how to love will see a tree
And upon seeing a tree will understand what love is

What an empty word love will then become
Because trees can be love, dark or lush

Nightly I watch the two trees outside my window
Below the blue sea of the sky, neither of them is
A jujube as Lu Xun wrote of and also heard a bird cry in there
Can I say that they have nothing to do with him
And that the nocturnal bird presages no evil

Knowing that Lu Xun’s trees did not grow dates of love
I, of course, cannot cultivate by myself a tree that breeds them
And yet I still wish you could see it growing as I have so named
　　　　　　　　　　　May 21, 2006
　　　　　　　　　　　Jan. 11, 2009


　　树与爱情以及如何命名它们

如果将一棵树称为爱情（当然可以
因为没有名字不是一种任意的约定）
那么我们就不需要指着它称呼爱情
只需要说一声“树”
懂得爱的人会看到一棵树
看到一棵树的人就有了爱情

有了树的阴森或者葱绿
爱这个字将会多么空洞

夜夜，我看到两棵树我窗外的碧海青天之下
一棵不是枣树，另一棵也不是枣树
我能否说：因此它们与鲁迅无关
能否说是我自己发明了树与爱情的关联
能否说黑鸟凄惨的叫声不会给我们带来厄运

鲁迅的枣树结不出爱情
我也无法培育一棵结满爱情枣子的树
但我仍愿你能看见我如此命名的那棵
　　　　　2006年5月21日
　　　　　2009年1月11日