Fan Jinghua: Rain over Partington

　　　Rain over Partington

The rain has stopped, and it is time for her to go out of the castle.
The slope before her is dustless, and walking down it may render her shoes
Mud-stained but not waterlogged.
There are no trees, no birds, not a soul in sight,
And she dangles a handbag by her side like a pendulum, to balance her gait.
She has broken the grandfather clock with her Swiss watch,
And now she carries the coin-like watch-face in her purse.
A post-castle souvenir, with Roman numbers.

The view has never been so vast. She felt a little horrified,
Pausing at the suspending bridge, below which the water runs cryptic
In the ditch between the inside and the outside. Half full.
Living took her in the pre-castle phase, and in the castle, she takes life,
While her soul stands out of her body, injecting stimulant.
Now, the world has taken on another face. She accepts everything,
As neither buds nor flowers can be kept fresh for long, even if they avoid direct sunlight.
Their promise may be time-conditioned, but the feel is real, better than the real.

The elastic suckers of the rain slipped on the windowpane;
Rain has a language of its own, onomatopoeic, atemporal, but it too becomes easily
Bored of its reiteration that beloved ones would invent a way to indulge and sustain,
And avoid the expression of love and longing.
Souls, once flown out of their hosts, can be tele-mated,
And a rain or window poses no hindrance, a slope not a slide.
Now they put talks into silence, and end up with a hackneyed joke
That the rain makes itself a better company by keeping overstaying guests.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　May 6, 2010

　　　　渭城朝雨

雨停了，她出城堡的时辰到了。
那下坡道上没有灰尘，走下去，她的鞋子
或许还会沾点污泥，但应该不会湿透。
不见树木、不见鸟、也不见一个人，她荡着
一只手袋，在身侧，如钟摆，平衡着她的步态。
城堡中的大座钟，已被她用手表砸坏。
此刻，她的钱包里收藏着那硬币似的表面，
一件后城堡时期的纪念品，有罗马数字。

在吊桥上，对着从未有过的浩广，她心中一阵恐慌；
脚下，护城的水涨到深沟一半，隐晦地流淌。
由此，世界分成内外。入城堡前，生活占有了她；
而在城堡中，她出窍的灵魂占有了人生，给身体注射亢奋剂。
如今，世界换上了一副陌生面孔。她必须坦然接受。
因为即便躲开阳光的辐射，花朵与蓓蕾也都不能保鲜多久；
它们的承诺或许只是应时应景，
而那感觉很真，比现实的还要真实。

雨的吸盘在窗子上打滑；雨有自己的语言，
拟声，独立于时间，可它很快就能学会应该如何厌倦
自己的一再重申，不再说分隔的密友都会
发明一种方式，沉溺于情，却绕开言辞，不提爱与思念。
出过窍的灵魂才会远距交合，淫雨和窗户
都不是封锁，下坡也非滑滑梯。
将说话插入沉默，最终只说陈腐的"下雨天留客"，留下的人
"相见时难别亦难"，留下该走的人，令雨天变成更好的伴。
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　2010年5月7-8日