Fan Jinghua: Animal Poems

Animal poems


　　Silkworm
On their belly, raising heads circling in the air, they
Have stored so many threads that it takes a lifetime
To tell them out. They die, wrapped in their own words.
The next life flies out, no difference from any moth.

　　　蚕
趴着，抬着头绕，原本厚积的丝
薄发，直到死，还未亡。飞了的再生
和所有蛾子没什么分别。


　　Snake
In a low key, in a slow motion, in a belief of wind.
Admire the winged, often because of a need for admiration.
Amphibians may not mean intelligence. Snakes, legless, are reptiles.

　　　蛇
低调，慢的扭动，相信风；
崇拜有翅的，有时只是需要培养一种崇拜的心情。
什么时候两栖类都智慧了？它属于爬虫类。


　　Gorillas
Even Tarzan does not marry a human.
Close cousins to men, you are doomed to be fewer and fewer.

　　大猩猩
和人类是近亲，不能结婚。
所以他们越来越少了。


　　Monkeys
Cousins so distant that there is only
Understandable mock between you and us.

　　猴子
人类的远亲，与人类之间
只剩下可理解的彼此嘲弄。