Fan Jinghua: Versions of Distance

　　　 Versions of Distance
　　　　　　　For homebound Elaine
You’ve known between the south and the north
Different versions of distance, enough to see
How reason can be a spring working against or for
Commitment, passion and their future.
In the plastic bamboo grove, we always sit around a table, talking,
Once about whether oily words could drive at a meaning
Constant like the cholera-free ship mooring offshore.
Or, when enthralled by a show, do we need
To judge each role by the performer’s art or nature?
We sit still, the scenes flowing away before our eyes,
And as we sit still, the scenes flow within us;
This is the same as you, coming and leaving, breezy,
While people are continually revised by distance,
So that our lasting ache is shown as mortal happiness.
Yet, as we talk about tables in our childhood homes,
We each have a separate past to share, and we may believe
We must have known each other when, across time and space,
The first steps of our bare feet started to measure the world.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　July 13-14, 2010


　　　　叠映
　 　　　（送许琨女士归国）
你走过南与北的多重版本，懂得理性
会以弹性对付情感、义务以及它们的可能。
在实心竹围出的竹林里，我们围着盘子说话；
油滑的言词能否指向不变的意思，如霍乱时的
那艘游船，终于没有了昏乱，在海岸线外停泊？
或如着迷于一场表演，是否要评判
那些角色是本色的呈现还是性格的创造？
我们坐着，那一幕幕径自从眼前流去，
而我们坐着，那一幕幕也就流经我们；
正如你来了又去，留下再来的期许如玉。
所有人都一再被距离划分成“我”的多个版本，
各自的短暂幸福都是一个长久的渴望。
当我们说起家乡的餐桌，我们才发现
你我的曾经那么相似；这或可令我们相信
人人都似曾相识：曾经，我们隔着时空
赤脚学步，从那儿开始衡量世界，至今。
　　　　　　　　2010年7月15日

Fan Jinghua: Interlude

　　　　　　Interlude
—Now, we continue with the juncture and/or mutual proof between being and nonbeing.
Is it that being validates the necessity of nonbeing
Or that the self-depowerment of nonbeing projects the absoluteness of being?
Or in what affirmative way can nonbeing present …… Hi, John, your coffee,
Where did you get it? I have smelt of it before I knew you were coming.
Now you’ve come to prove that my sense of smell is so real.
—You smelt of coffee when I was absent, and then how do you prove that was my coffee?
Oh, you seemed to be saying something about the affirmativeness of nonbeing.
My presence now is the result of my absence just now, while coffee has always been present?
—Ah, Comrade St John, coffee was absent, but the smell of coffee is always present;
You know this, I know this, and now everyone present has smelt of it.
—And then you can proceed to talk about what coffee we each have smelt of.
—Good! You can finish your coffee first, while we can wait for those absent.
…..Hi, Mary, Christian, come in! You smell of the coffee in your hands or that John has finished?
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　July 13-14, 2010


　　　　　　　　插曲

——现在，我们继续讨论在与不在的接缝或互证。
是在确证了不在的必然，还是不在的自我消权凸显了在的绝对？
或者，不在是以何种积极的方式……嗨，约翰，你的咖啡
是从哪儿弄来的？我不知道你会来，可我早就闻到了
你的咖啡；现在你终于来证实了我的嗅觉不虚。
——我不在时你已闻到咖啡，那么你如何能确证
那是我的咖啡？对了，之前你似乎在说不在的肯定性。
此刻我在了，是因为我刚才不在？可咖啡一直都在？
——哈，圣约翰同志，咖啡不在，而味道一直都在；
这一点，你知我知，在座的各位现在也都闻到啦。
——那么我们讨论讨论我们闻到的是哪种咖啡吧。
——好！你先喝完你的咖啡，我们等一等不在的人。
……嗨，进来吧，玛丽亚，克里斯蒂安。告诉我，
你们闻到的咖啡是你们手上的还是约翰喝掉了的？
　　　　　　　　　　　2010年7月13-14日