Too Normal

　　　Too Normal

                                     Fan Jinghua

The lights are off, the night is deep, and no one is around.

The only flickering comes from popups on the screen

Under a USB reading light. You do not put on the headphone.

Words are blurring themselves in the book,

The concepts they are referring to

No long ring to you. Oh, you once felt so proud

Of the big stuff, but where has that world gone? In teacups?

Your country does not feel real any more, it is theirs now.

They, you have no words for them; since when?

Nothing holds intimacy, except the stars and rivers

In your memory and imagination. Nowadays, if you care

To read that world, you read man-made disasters.

It is a disgrace for old timers to believe in young things,

But to crush it without a sound is a colossal shame.

　　　　　　　　　August 23, 2018

　　　很正常

                            得一忘二

灯都关了，夜很深了，没有别人。

闪动的是USB灯下屏幕上的弹窗。

你没有戴上耳机。书页上的字词，

模糊了自己，它们所指的概念已不能

唤起你的反应。哦，曾几何时，

宏大的东西令你那么自豪，如今

那个世界哪儿去了？茶杯中吗？

你的国，你不再感到真实，现在是他们的；

而他们，不知何时起，你已没有恰当的字眼描述。

除了记忆与想象中的星星和小河，没什么

还含着亲切。现如今，假如你还想阅读

那个世界，你就是阅读人为的灾难。

旧时的人要相信年轻的事，这有失体面，

但这羞辱被无声地压制下去，又是多么地可耻。

　　　　　　2018年8月24日