Poem
Bai Hua
Precipice
In one city there is one manIn two cities there is one orientation
The lonely overcoat waits in silence
A strange journey
A bashful yet gratuitous advance
To requite one kind of weather
Restraint is murdering time
Don’t go up to the attic at night
An address has one death of its own
That indistinct white neck
Will turn around and face you
At this moment you are making a poem
Which amounts to making a sunken ship
A black tree
Or a rain-shrouded embankment
Endurance becomes unfathomable
Excessive riddles
Ears of the enigmatic Diao Chan
For no good reason, determination departs
Organs shrivel all at once Li He weeps bitterly
Those Tang-dynasty hands will never return
© Translation: 2008, Simon Patton
Diao Chan, a legendary Chinese beauty, lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). Li He (791-817) was a brilliant songwriter and poet from the Tang dynasty.
＜懸崖＞
＜懸崖＞
一個城市有一個人 兩個城市有一個向度
寂寞的外套無聲地等待
陌生的旅行
羞怯而無端端的前進
去報答一種氣候
克制正殺害時間
夜裏別上閣樓
一個地址有一次死亡
那依稀的白頸項
將轉過頭來
此時你製造一首詩
就等於製造一艘沉船
一棵黑樹
或一片雨天的堤岸
忍耐變得莫測
過度的謎語
無法解開的貂蟬的耳朵
意志無緣無故地離開
器官突然枯萎
李賀痛哭
唐代的手再不回來
© 2008, Bai Hua
Publisher: First published on PIW,
Publisher: First published on PIW,
Poems
Poems of Bai Hua
Close
Precipice
In one city there is one manIn two cities there is one orientation
The lonely overcoat waits in silence
A strange journey
A bashful yet gratuitous advance
To requite one kind of weather
Restraint is murdering time
Don’t go up to the attic at night
An address has one death of its own
That indistinct white neck
Will turn around and face you
At this moment you are making a poem
Which amounts to making a sunken ship
A black tree
Or a rain-shrouded embankment
Endurance becomes unfathomable
Excessive riddles
Ears of the enigmatic Diao Chan
For no good reason, determination departs
Organs shrivel all at once Li He weeps bitterly
Those Tang-dynasty hands will never return
© 2008, Simon Patton
Precipice
In one city there is one manIn two cities there is one orientation
The lonely overcoat waits in silence
A strange journey
A bashful yet gratuitous advance
To requite one kind of weather
Restraint is murdering time
Don’t go up to the attic at night
An address has one death of its own
That indistinct white neck
Will turn around and face you
At this moment you are making a poem
Which amounts to making a sunken ship
A black tree
Or a rain-shrouded embankment
Endurance becomes unfathomable
Excessive riddles
Ears of the enigmatic Diao Chan
For no good reason, determination departs
Organs shrivel all at once Li He weeps bitterly
Those Tang-dynasty hands will never return
© 2008, Simon Patton
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