Poem
Guo Jinniu
THE FOREIGN PROVINCES IN THE TWELFTH MONTH
They, like arrows, shot out.They,
they heard old news,
Spring Festival approaches.
Spring Festival is all for the Han community. Same thing over and over. Like last
year.
Butcher pigs. Slaughter sheep. Smoke bacon and do New Year shopping.The people want to condense a whole year’s happiness into this one day.
But other people bought,
since the year’s end,
a bus ticket, moved from one strange land to another.
He too wanted to condense a whole year’s homesickness
into this one day.
This story, it happened in Canton Province where I wandered,
recognized by December. Him.
He left the Land of Chu a dozen years back, spent the fares for the long journey,
little or nothing left over.
Lonesome.
On the homeward road again, going the other way, now an enemy in Mother’s eyes. At the month’s end, as the year turned,
the old lady at the end of the village, I kept her
waiting and watching in vain.
EEN ANDERE PROVINCIE IN DE LAATSTE MAAND VAN HET JAAR
Zij, schoten weg, als een pijl.Zij,
hoorden oud nieuws
Nieuwjaar naderde.
Nieuwjaar voor alle Han-Chinezen. Stereotiep. Net als vorig jaar
varkens slachten. Een schaap doden. Gedroogd varkensvlees en Nieuwjaarseten voorbereiden,
het volk wil het geluk van een heel jaar in deze ene dag proppen.
Een ander volk koopt
aan het einde van het jaar
een buskaartje, verhuist van de ene onbekende plek naar de andere.
Hij wil de heimwee van een heel jaar
óók in deze ene dag proppen.
Dit voorval gebeurde in de provincie Guangdong waar ik rondzwierf,
gezien door december. Hij.
Al meer dan tien jaar vertrokken uit de staat Chu, gaf al zijn geld uit aan verre reizen,
weinig spaargeld.
Eenzaam.
Op een keer ging hij in de tegenovergestelde richting van thuis, werd in moeders ogen de vijand.
Aan het eind van de maand toen het jaar wisselde,
de oude vrouw aan het begin van het dorp, ik liet haar
vergeefs wachten.
第十二个月份的外省
他们,箭,一样射出。他们,
听到了一道旧消息
春节临近。
都是汉人的春节。千篇一律。与去年近似
杀猪。宰羊。制作腊肉和年货,人民要把一年的幸福
浓缩在这一天。
另外一个人民,从年关中
购买
一张车票,从一个异乡搬到另一个异乡
他要把一年的乡愁,也浓缩在
这一天
这个事情,发生在我漂泊的广东省
被十二月份看出。他。
辞别楚国十多年,花光了远大的盘缠
薄薄的积蓄
孤单地
又一次与回家的路途,相反,成为母亲眼里的仇人
年更月尽啊
村头那个年迈的妇人,我害得她
把汉水望穿
From: 纸上还乡——郭金牛诗集
Publisher: 华东师范大学出版社, Shanghai
Publisher: 华东师范大学出版社, Shanghai
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Poems of Guo Jinniu
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THE FOREIGN PROVINCES IN THE TWELFTH MONTH
They, like arrows, shot out.They,
they heard old news,
Spring Festival approaches.
Spring Festival is all for the Han community. Same thing over and over. Like last
year.
Butcher pigs. Slaughter sheep. Smoke bacon and do New Year shopping.The people want to condense a whole year’s happiness into this one day.
But other people bought,
since the year’s end,
a bus ticket, moved from one strange land to another.
He too wanted to condense a whole year’s homesickness
into this one day.
This story, it happened in Canton Province where I wandered,
recognized by December. Him.
He left the Land of Chu a dozen years back, spent the fares for the long journey,
little or nothing left over.
Lonesome.
On the homeward road again, going the other way, now an enemy in Mother’s eyes. At the month’s end, as the year turned,
the old lady at the end of the village, I kept her
waiting and watching in vain.
From: 纸上还乡——郭金牛诗集
THE FOREIGN PROVINCES IN THE TWELFTH MONTH
They, like arrows, shot out.They,
they heard old news,
Spring Festival approaches.
Spring Festival is all for the Han community. Same thing over and over. Like last
year.
Butcher pigs. Slaughter sheep. Smoke bacon and do New Year shopping.The people want to condense a whole year’s happiness into this one day.
But other people bought,
since the year’s end,
a bus ticket, moved from one strange land to another.
He too wanted to condense a whole year’s homesickness
into this one day.
This story, it happened in Canton Province where I wandered,
recognized by December. Him.
He left the Land of Chu a dozen years back, spent the fares for the long journey,
little or nothing left over.
Lonesome.
On the homeward road again, going the other way, now an enemy in Mother’s eyes. At the month’s end, as the year turned,
the old lady at the end of the village, I kept her
waiting and watching in vain.
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