Fan Jinghua: City of Flowing Water

　　　City of Flowing Water
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Fan Jinghua
Its noises estranged us, that city of flowing water,
The windows could open even bigger;
For the sky did not cave in or leak through,
The moon not come for the twilight.
It would be centuries of detours before a love comes
To shake our worlds and make ghosts cry.
The alley of night was not a thoroughfare,
But it was not narrow either;
Too many boats jammed up the course,
Lamps and dancing music were bloated,
And a swallow’s coos broke into howls in a bamboo forest
And let out sounds of pleasure.
Water ghosts grumbled by,
But it was still early for us to sigh.

On the gallows in the net-ground, no one
Was nailed or hung in the subsiding wind;
The moment the red sun was seen floating in the mist,
The dock was already a plaster
Patching the wound of a dream, and the next quay was preparing
A monsoon in the distance.
A shrike on the mast tucked in its neck and proud wings,
Cautioning a lamb on the bank:
Upturned look shall not be long,
Downcast gaze has to be short.
From now on, the moon will close its cyclops
To check the realness and weight of dreams,
The eyelids of stars will make a milkshake out of Farewell Song
And we drink it and ejaculate.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Oct. 5, 2009


　　　流水之城
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　得一忘二
那座城，因为喧闹而与我们无关，
窗口可以再大一些，反正天没有空，月光今夜不来；
可以载入史册的爱情，还有几个世纪的弯子要拐。
夜的巷子不是通衢，可也不算窄了，
只是船儿太多，灯影与歌舞声纷杂，
本可如燕子般喃喃的，却要像独坐竹林一样长啸；
水鬼从舷下咕哝而去，我们还不必叹息。

晒网场的十字架上，一个吊着的人也没有；
旭日刚浮出江雾，码头已是一块膏药，封贴着梦的裂口，
而下一个渡口，正在远方准备一场淫雨。
桅杆上的劳伯鸟缩着脖子和骄傲的翅膀，告示岸上的羊：
仰望不必长久，俯瞰只能短暂。
今后，明月可以闭目验证梦幻的真伪及其轻重，
星星的眼睑挤出骊歌的奶昔，流进我们体内。
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　2009年10月5日