Lotus (蓮花 )

The Lotus

On the day when the lotus bloomed, 
alas, my mind was straying, and I knew it not.   
My basket was empty and
the flower remained unheeded.

Only now and again, a sadness fell upon me, and
I started up from my dream and   
felt a sweet trace of a strange fragrance
in the south wind.

That vague sweetness made my heart ache with longing and
it seemed to me that is was
the eager breath of the summer    
seeking for its completion.

I knew not then that it was so near,
that it was mine, and  
that this perfect sweetness had blossomed  
in the depth of my own heart.

Rabindranath Tagore.

蓮花

蓮花綻放那天
唉，我心神恍惚，而我竞不覺。
我的籃子虛空着
無人留意那花。

但不時

哀傷垂下

我從夢中驚醒

感到一絲奇妙的芬芳

在南風中。

那莫名的甜蜜

使欲望疼我心

彷彿那是夏日

熱切的氣息

   索求其滿全。

那時我尚未曉得它這麼近

那是我的

那完美無缺的甜蜜

已在我心深處綻放。

泰戈爾作
愛梭羅(El Zorro) 譯

 

Ruins of Yore (昔日的殘跡)

in the ruins   we drank in the remains of ruined buildings and we sat in a cave or wrecked houses on farms given back to the bank listening to men who'd been raised in ways that were lost and we strained to make out the use of their news they were crazy or passed out speed notched with a cross they drank from the flask and the mouth they came in and shook off the rain inflamed and dismayed calm and arcane the least one seethed chanting whitman for hours  then wept at the dregs of the fire foam formed at the edge of their lips we drank and waited for something to drop  you and I looking and sifting for signs written in wax we were young we knew how to die but not how to last a small man who claimed he was blake raged all night and probably he was he had god in his sights  white crosses shone in our eyes or acid mandalic in the ruins the men talked: seraphic and broken glowing with gnosis and rubbish we sorted their mad sacred words these dog-headed guides to the life after and the life after that by Mark Conway

廢屋中 我們在廢屋的                                               殘餘中喝酒                                                    我們坐在穴洞或                                            已還給河岸的破農舍                                    聆聽那用                                                     早已遺失的方式教養的人                              我們歇力探求                                               他們傳聞的意義                                            他們或曾瘋狂或逝去                                    他們用十字彫劃的速度                                 直接從水壺那開口上                                    吞飲並抖開雨點                                            激動和失望                                                  冷靜和古老                                                   那最小的不斷咬牙切齒地誦念著惠特文       然後對著餘燼啕哭                                           他們咀角泛出泡沫                                        我們喝著喝著等著東西掉下                          你和我尋找和挑出                                        以燭臘劃寫的符號                                           我們那時尚年青我們知道怎麼樣死                但不知怎麼樣歷久常新                                 一自稱布萊克的小子整晚亢奮                       可能他是說真的                                            他眼中滿是神靈                                              白色的十字也在我們眼中閃耀 也許是曼佗羅酸     在廢屋中那些人在談論                                  猶熾愛天使般亦復心碎                                 為諾斯替神祕主義和廢物發熱                       我們挑出他們瘋癲神聖的話語                        這些領犬為首的來生                                    和來生後之生命導遊     馬克. 康威  (譯  tr.  El Zorro)

Orchids (籣花)

 

古風                                       孤蘭生幽園 眾草共蕪沒 雖照陽春暉  復悲高秋月。 飛霜早浙瀝 綠艷恐休歇。 若無清風吹 香氣為誰發    李白

Style of Yore Lone orchid growing in a garden dim    Buried in weeds untrimmed.   Though shining in the shimmering sun of spring   Still saddened by the autumn moon on high.   Flying frost long pitter pattering   Fearing the end of its gorgeous green   If no fresh breezes were to blow   For whom its bouquet to bestow ?   Li Bai  (tr. El Zorro)

 

Camellias (山茶花)

It's a really wonderful experience to walk upon a mountain full of camellias after the rain. As far as the eyes can see, there are white camellias, camellias and camellias dotting the dewy deep green of the hillside, sparkling like so many little stars.

I like the drops of rain upon their petals,

or embroidering their edges.

I like the bean like tips of their stamina

like so many heads of the bean sprout.

I like the way they stick so close together and yet not getting into each others' way.

They stick their heads out in so many different directions,

Some upwards,

Others sideways.

And their sepals like to form themselves into a different kind of flower,  with its own shape and color.



They usually grow all by themselves but there can be exceptions too, like these two who seem quite happy to huddle together for company.

Many poems have been written about them. I set out below one by a Sung dynasty poet I like, Su Shi, together with my own translation.

山茶 游蜂掠盡粉絲黃  落蕊猶收蜜露香 待得春風幾枝在 年來殺菽有飛霜 蘇軾

Camellias Roving bees robbing pollen of its silky yellow                           Falling stamen still gathering from honey dew its bouquet             How many branches can await the breezes of spring               There’s always flying frost killing its seeds through the years  Su Shi  (tr. El Zorro)

顧城之「弧線」 Gu Cheng's "Parabolas"

弧線                               Parabolas

鳥兒在疾風中                 The bird changing direction
迅速轉向                        in gusty winds

少年去檢拾                     The youth  
一枚分幣                         picking up a penny

葡藤因幻想                     The grapevine extending its tendrils                 
而延伸的觸絲                  From imagination

海浪因退縮                     The sea wave arching its back
而聳起的背脊                  From withdrawal


顧城 1980 八月              Gu Cheng Aug 1980 (tr. El Zorro)

Gu Cheng's "River [1]" (顧城之「河」[一])

        河 (一)                               River (1)
 
       當我合上眼，                      Upon closing my eyes
　　思想便漸漸地微弱，             my thoughts slowly weaken
　　閃着藍光，                          wavering in blue light
　　像疲乏的燭火。                    like a weary candle.
　　我生命的温泉，                    The hotspring of my life
　　在夜、在夢、在地層中潛流。flowing beneath the night, in dreams, in layers of earth

　　在那溶凝無隙的黑暗里，       In that fissureless flow of darkness
　　它似乎是停止了，                 it seems to have ceased
　　但時光和水花匯成的歌，       but the song formed by time and sprays
　　却無止息地仍在傳播……         is ceaselessly spreading still...

　　初春的芳香，                        The fragrance of early spring
　　浸透了沙岩、石礫，              seeping through the sandstones, the rubbles
　　於是，大地便在蕩漾中復活。 and then, the earth revives in waves.
　　淡淡的，                               Gently   
　　像晨光樣渗出，                     oozing like morning rays
　　似露滴般閃爍……                    shimmering like dew drops...
　　呵！甦醒的風，                     Oh ! the awakened wind
　　吹動半天錦霞、一匹清波……is blowing across a sky of colorful clouds, a roll of new waves...

　　它在雲霧的帳幕中玩耍，        It's frolicking in tentfuls of misty clouds
　　又從彩虹的脊背上滑过，         sliding down the backs of rainbows
　　终於從高天飛瀉而下，            finally spilling down the sky
　　淹没了人間的一切沙原、荒漠。flooding all the arid lands and deserts of man

　　它是什麼？                             What's that?
　　是……                                      It's....
　　呵，就是我，                          Oh, that's me.
　　是我生命的江河。                   It's the river of my life.

   顧城 1973 濟南                          Gu Cheng 1973 Tsinan (tr. El Zorro)

  

A Valentine's Day Poem

POSSIBLY


to wake and find you sitting up in bed
with you black hair and gold skin
leaning against the white wall
a perfect slant of sunlight slashed
across your chest as if God
were Rembrandt or maybe Ingmar Bergman
but luckily it's too early to go to the movies
and all the museums are closed on Tuesday
anyway I'd rather be here with you
than in New York or possibly Amsterdam
with your eyes and lips and legs and bellies
and the sun as big as a house in the sky
and five minutes left before the world begins.



Lesléa Newman