Baima: Three Poems

Three Poems by Baima

　　 　自愈
　　　　　　　　白玛
鲸鱼航海，神的国度里鹰在秘密演习。
我生来卑微、一无所长，只有受伤后自愈的天赋。

　　Self-Healing
　　　　　　　　　　by Baima (1972-)　　tr. Fan Jinghua
Whales navigate; eagles practice their secret art in god’s country.
Born low and inept, I am endowed with the only gift of self-healing.

　　只有孤独如幕
　　　　　　白玛
回头望向
我横刀策马
赢美人归
洒英雄泪
天苍茫
啊，只有孤独如幕

　　Loneliness alone makes a curtain
　　　　　　　　　　by Baima (1972-)　　tr. Fan Jinghua
My head turning to look back
I spur a war-horse, halberd in hand
With the prize of a beauty
With tears of a hero
Under a boundless sky
Oh, loneliness alone makes a curtain


　　　傍晚书
　　　　　　白玛
这是叙述中寻常的傍晚时
寒冷并无敌意。这是叙述中
无路绕行的低潮部分——
我沿着河滩慢跑。水鸟站在苇梢默默凝视河心岛
枯枝举向半空
而远处的神情、腔调、事端，一无所知
这也是叙述中被遗漏的易逝时刻——
天向晚，待群星疏朗
我正埋头独饮。寂静如潮水拍打落地灯
孩子刚刚入睡，眼睑上跃动着睫毛那些冬青丛般的投影

　　　Book of Dusk
　　　　　　　　　　by Baima (1972-)　　tr. Fan Jinghua
This is a dusk commonly found in a narrative
When coolness poses no enmity. This is the lowest tide
No narrative can bypass—
I jog around the riverside. Waterfowls stand silent on reed-tops, looking at the shoal
Trees hold out dry branches to the sky
Expressions, voices and turbulence in the distance are beyond apprehensions
This moment, transient and prone to be left out in a narrative—
Dusk is impending, and I, buried in a wine, am waiting
For stars to shoot out. Waves of silence blow against a floor-lamp
My child has fallen into sleep, and on her eyelids shadows of holly are flickering


About the Poet 诗人简介
　Baima, aka Baima Cuomu, born in Shandong in 1972, began publishing poems as early as at the age of 16. She had been in the army in Beijing, and lived in Jiangsu, Beijing and Lhasa. She now lives in Linyi, Shandong. She authors a poetry book The Messenger on the Way, and co-authors a poetry book We Seven. Baima is a fiercely confident poet, but she keeps a quite low profile. Her poems exhibit her efforts to attain a language to its purest state, and in the purity she tries to achieve the corresponding state of mind (spirit) which is now generally lack in contemporary Chinese poetry.
　白玛，或白玛措木，1972年生于山东，早在16岁时便发表诗歌。她曾在北京服役，居住过江苏、北京、拉萨，现居山东临沂。出版过个人诗集《信使在途中》、合集《我们柒》。白玛是一个非常自信的诗人，但比较低调。她的诗歌展示了她追求一种纯净语言的努力，而在这种纯净中达致相应的精神状态，而这种精神的纯净正是中国当代诗歌中往往欠缺的。