SU Ruoxi: The Present Tense (excerpts)

现在时态 (选)
　　　　苏若兮（1977-）
The Present Tense　(excerpts)
　　　　　by SU Ruoxi (1977-) 　tr. Fan Jinghua

　　一
麦地空了
你找不到记忆它的人

水鸟不来湖水上写字
它或许，离开了它的故事
像那个坐在汽车里的人，押运晒干的麦子远行
摆脱了六月，视觉

和湖滩麦地的寂静

　　I
Wheatfield is emptied
You cannot find the one to remember it

The waterbird does not come to write on the lake
Maybe, it has left its story
Like the one in the truck who escorts the dried wheat to the distant
Ridding himself of June, vision

And the stillness of the lakefront wheatfield


　　四
浮萍，被风推着
从河的此岸浮到了彼岸

洗衣的人
不洗浮萍

河面上的风云
就这么动荡而缓慢
拧着脸，也不能回头

　　IV
Duckweeds, pushed on by winds, float
From this side of the river to the other

She who washes clothes
Does not wash duckweeds

The winds and clouds on the river-face
Are restless and slow as such
Their faces screwed, their heads unable to turn

　　六
我承认，对面的窗口，黑洞似的
离我很近
近又怎样
我连敲它的勇气都没有
它黑洞似的，张着大口
与我持久地对峙，天黑了
我告诉它，我还在

　　VI
I confess, the opposite window, like a black hole, looks
So close to me
But what then
If I do not even have the courage to knock at it
Well, it’s like a black hole, opening a big mouth
And it confronts me persistently till darkness falls
When I tell it that I still am


　　十一
要是可以写信
我就去远方
一群又一群的陌生者
满身寒霜
麻木到不会哭

我记下他们的面孔，在纸上涂抹

我不得不迷恋这样的工程
在信里画满墨水的嘶喊
告诉你
没有一声，是自己的

　　XI
If letters can be written out
I’d go to a faraway place
Strangers of groups
With frost on their head and shoulders
Grow numb and forget how to cry

I bear their faces in my mind and smear them on the paper

I have to be fascinated by this project
And in the letters I scribble down the cries of ink
Telling you
Not a single sound of these is mine