A Poetic Exchange between Zang Di and Me

A Poetic Exchange between Zang Di and Me

　　Non-Constant Way Series
　　　　　　　　　ZANG Di (1964-)
Spontaneous songs and a long road, they place problems on the tabletop.
Among the wild flowers in the mountains, hawthorn and crabapple take the lead,
And they too place on the tabletop. Red azaleas unwrap
The bandages of rain. Do you still remember
The keynote you have been so eagerly looking for?
The next step is whether to open a designated channel
For loosestrife and spring-bred grass. As for the table, it takes
Its form from the heaven, but it shifts between the original and the transfigured,
And you tap it. Oh, a cushion of clouds.
The blue table looks no different, and it might well be
A bed. It can surely serve that purpose.
O, dear form, you have no wrong; the blame lies in a blink.
In an instant, still rocks take on the skin of fruits.
Trumpets fine tune rain swallows. Oh, with a sharp turn,
You enter the cage of Truth, its key placed
On the river which ants are about to cross.
O, how shiny an arch bridge, punctual as the clock hands of clematis.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　[For Fan Jinghua]

　　非常道丛书
　　　　　　　　臧棣
漫歌和长路，将问题摆在了桌面上。
山地野花，以山楂和海棠打头阵，
也摆在了五月的桌面上。红杜鹃解开了
雨的绷带。你还能想得起来
你曾渴望找准的那个基调吗？
下一步才是要不要给通泉草和珍珠菜
单独开辟一个频道。至于桌子，
它取自天空，在保持原状和巧妙变形之间，
你拍了拍。哦，白云的小垫子。
蓝色的桌子看起来没什么两样，
拿它当床用，肯定也没问题。
哦，亲爱的形状，你没有错，责任全在一瞬间。
突然，静止的石头有了水果的皮肤。
小号谐调了雨燕。哦，急转弯，
你走进真理的笼子，把钥匙放在了
那些蚂蚁将要渡过的一条河上。
哦，发光的小拱桥，你像铁线莲的时针一样准时。
　　　　　　　　—赠得一忘二
　　　　　　　　　　　　　2009.5.

　The above pome is dedicated to me by the poet Zang Di. Zang Di is an eminent contemporary Chinese poet and scholar, currently teaching in Beijing University. He is recently featured in Guardian's Poem of the Week, link (though the pronunciation is wrong. The correct pronunciation of his surname should be Zang instead of Zeng).

　The following poem is my reply to his poem.

　　　　　　Zang Di and Fan Jinghua (in red) in Boston US in Oct. 2004

　　We Walk the Earth as Our Feet Fall
　　　　　　　　　　　For ZANG Di

For those that arrange themselves at their free will,
Their ways are in accordance with the primary shadows.
We can only see the ways in the order of flowers, grasses, fruits and nuts,
As they grow with the ways and paths, along the no-order of my seeing.
Their shadows are not our shadows but our keynote.
Then, running water cuts through them, and a small bridge arches it,
As we go down, like sounds, pushing rocks,
Like Atlas rolling an iron hoop, one of the fire wheels of a demigod trickster.
White clouds circle beneath the compass-like dome, anchorless, shapeless, aimless,
But self-anchored, self-shaping, self-destined, and their shadows become
A patch of darkness under our feet, forgetting they have weight.
On the bed of the myriad, we walk as our feet fall, on and on, till we enter into an instant,
In which the universe flattens out and expands, like a lacquered timber desktop
Whose veins delude us and lead us into the depth of a concept,
A conceptual flower lures the bees out of paradise.
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　May 19, 2009

　　随着脚步行走大地
　　　　　　　　　　[回赠臧棣]
那些按照自己的方式排列的
那些排列符合原有的影子；
那些影子我们只在花草果实的次第中看见，
与道路并进，沿着我们无次第的看见。
它们不是我们的影子，是我们的基调。
然后，有横切的流水细长，再有横跨的小桥拱着身，
我们像声音一样沿途而去，滚动岩石，
犹如阿特拉斯滚起铁环，哪吒的风火轮。
白云贴着罗盘似的圆顶旋转，漂而无泊，有象而无状，有定而无向，
白云众多的影子只是我们脚下的一片黑，忘记了重量。
在这万物的床上，我们随着脚步走着走着就走进了一个瞬间。
这一片瞬息，宇宙多么平展，
像一张原木的桌面，纹路的错觉将我们引向幽深，
一朵花似的概念，吸引着蜜蜂下凡。
　　　　　　　　　　2009年5月19日