Xiao Maxian: Home-Coming; A Scarecrow in the City; The Pleasure of Life

小玛仙诗三首《回归》《城市稻草人》《生活的喜悦》

　　回归
有一天大雾迷漫，他看到大山
橄榄树
但这果然是出生之地吗？
帕涅罗珀，多么遥远而陌生……
他想念小岛，黄昏，岩洞深处
听卡吕普索喊他的名字——尤利西斯
如果用这七年的生活交换
自由（但什么才是自由？）
他的回归
却如同埋葬
　　　　2008年10月7日

　　　Home-Coming
　　　　　　　　　by Xiao Maxian　　　tr. Fan Jinghua
Big fogs overflow into the day, and he sees big mountains
And olive trees,
But is this really his birthplace?
Penelope, how distant and alienated…
He misses the small island, the dusk, the deep cave
Echoing his name in Calypso’s voice -- Ulysses
If the seven-year life is to be exchanged
Into freedom (what on earth is freedom?)
His homecoming would be
An act of interring
　　　　　October 7, 2008

Comments: The first three lines contain in the illusion (fogginess) a kind of tangible realness (visibility), but the realness is subject to questions: Is this really…? The doubtfulness of one’s birthplace makes the most fundamental questions and ambivalence about existence (freedom and home-coming) appear illusionary. The unsaid link between freedom and home is love, which both pushes and pulls a man (?).
极短评：起句中，那种幻（在雾中）含着一种可以确凿的真（可以看到），而那种真却又是有待质问的：那果然是么？这使得有关人类生存的最基本问题与矛盾之一（自由与归家）很虚幻。自由与归家之间没被说出的联系（向心力与外心力）竟然都可以是爱情。


　　城市稻草人
你夺走我的麦子和庄园
夺走我的城市
我的心
麦子金灿灿地发烧了
你说爱我——这真是一把匕首
　　　　　　2008年9月27日

　　A Scarecrow in the City
You’ve usurped my wheat and farm
Also my city
Plus my heart
Wheat is running a golden fever
While you say you love me—such a dagger
　　　　　　September 27, 2008

Comments: The purpose of a scarecrow is, of course, to scare crows, but when seen in the city it means that it only takes away the stalk and farmland. Can you accept the oath of faith from this lifeless life?
极短评：稻草人的目的原本是吓走乌鸦，然而放在城市里却仅仅是占有麦秸和农田的象征，没有生命，你能接受它的爱情誓言么？


　　生活的喜悦
　　　——致马可·夏加尔
我可爱的画家，此时
正午睡
他的眼镜还戴在鼻梁上，像是在梦里
也思考着。我可爱的，有着臃肿身体的老男孩
你花白的头发，让你看上去多么迷人
像是给你镀上了圣光
像是污浊的生活让你越来越
纯粹了。
　　　　　2008年8月18日

　　The Pleasure of Life
　　　-- To Marc Chargal
My lovable painter is at this moment
Taking his noon nap
His spectacles on his nose, as if he falls into thought
Even in his dream. My adorable old boy, you have an overblown body
Your hair is snowy, which makes a charming sight
As if you are silvered with saintly halo
And turbid life enables you to live
Purer and purer.
　　　　　　　August 18, 2008

Comments: Old men can be blessed for their talent and wisdom, for these qualities are seen as flesh on the body. Old but not necessary to hide. This is regained naivete.
极短评：老男人有福了，因为他的才华与智慧被看得堆积在身体上，甚至不再有任何掩饰，一种复拾的真纯，多么憨啊。