Monday, October 26, 2009

Fan Jinghua: A Nightmare

     A Nightmare
                Fan Jinghua
They come on the ripples of water, masters of light body gung-fu,
Through my dreamscape, as if a wind cutting through the world of the real.

I lie as a river island, and bare-footed, they skip on my body as a spring board,
To mount a cloud; there they sit now, like an antique sage
Who angled without a hook, the line suspending over the water by half a meter.

Water rises and falls, now over my nose,
Now lower than my jaw, and I
Struggle to breathe in accord with the ebb and tide.

They come for a look at the river fight:
Pelvic fins of big fish clutch smaller fish, and stick in
To prize up those glossy gills of clamshells.

Eyes wide open, mouth flared, the aquatic creature is drowning in water:
SOSs rise as a string of transparent bubbles,
And after the string is a mouth opening and closing.
No tears seen, no suffocate looks, only the tail
Waggling like a rudder out of control,
And as I swirl in the stream,

A huge flood crest swarm like a sand storm from the Northwest.

They are still in the midair, like a veni-vidi-vici commander,
Pointing at the mountains and rivers, claiming territory,
While looking askew at me and sneering my fear.

They know this is but my dream, but they only care
For conquest and the conscription of the able-bodied,
Not bothering to broach my angst of a weakling.

They wring the clouds, and as the clouds lighten, their mechanic feet
Stomping on the water surface around me;
They leave me behind like a wrecked ship,
My eardrums suffering the bow waves.
          Oct. 2009


   梦魇

他们踏水而来,是轻功高强的人
他们穿入我的梦境,如破开现实的风

我是水中的冲积岛,他们一踏脚就翻身
上了云朵,一个个像垂钓的智者
鱼线离开水面三尺,没有钩子

水,涌起,过我的鼻子
水退下,低于我的下巴
我努力调节呼吸的节奏

他们只为俯瞰这条河里
大鱼用双鳍掐住小鱼,插入
撬开那些蚌壳般滑亮的无力夹紧的小腮

这些水生的弱者睁圆了眼睛撑开了嘴,闷在水中
透明的呼号,先是一串气泡
一串之后,只剩下嘴巴的开合
它们眼中无泪,看不出被呛的神色
只是尾巴如失控的舵,左右摔打
于是,我在水流中旋转

而一股洪峰正如沙尘暴一般从西北涌来

他们浮在半空中,像运筹帷幄的指挥官一样
伸手就将一片疆土划入自己的版图
侧眼,嘲弄我的恐惧

他们知道这只是我的梦而已,但他们
只考虑疆界和壮丁,不屑点破
我孱弱的焦虑

他们拧了拧乘坐的云,升高,于是机械臂似的排脚
高速猛跺水面
我的耳鼓被一波波的水压冲击冲击
冲击中,他们已经离去
         2009年10月13-17日

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