Poem
Chen Kehua
Gazing into the Distance One Autumn Day
my imaginary lover has already left in a hurrywindows stand open like eyelashes in this
autumn room
an overbearing man suns his body
out on the balcony
rippled repeatedly by a lukewarm breeze
like a plaza of crowding trees
that autocrat, King Desire
has prepared a magnificent celebration
for Himself
the vast silences infect one another
and in the midst of all this he sees, far off
in the distance,
the first tree set itself on fire . . .
1997
© Translation: 2001, Simon Patton
First published in Renditions No. 58 (Autumn 2002), p. 142.
Reprinted by permission of the Research Centre for Translation
of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
GAZING INTO THE DISTANCE ONE AUTUMN DAY
© 1997, Chen Kehua
From: Engaging in a Complicated Poetry for the Sake of Death
Publisher: Tansuo wenhua, Taipei
From: Engaging in a Complicated Poetry for the Sake of Death
Publisher: Tansuo wenhua, Taipei
Poems
Poems of Chen Kehua
Close
Gazing into the Distance One Autumn Day
my imaginary lover has already left in a hurrywindows stand open like eyelashes in this
autumn room
an overbearing man suns his body
out on the balcony
rippled repeatedly by a lukewarm breeze
like a plaza of crowding trees
that autocrat, King Desire
has prepared a magnificent celebration
for Himself
the vast silences infect one another
and in the midst of all this he sees, far off
in the distance,
the first tree set itself on fire . . .
1997
© 2001, Simon Patton
From: Engaging in a Complicated Poetry for the Sake of Death
From: Engaging in a Complicated Poetry for the Sake of Death
Gazing into the Distance One Autumn Day
my imaginary lover has already left in a hurrywindows stand open like eyelashes in this
autumn room
an overbearing man suns his body
out on the balcony
rippled repeatedly by a lukewarm breeze
like a plaza of crowding trees
that autocrat, King Desire
has prepared a magnificent celebration
for Himself
the vast silences infect one another
and in the midst of all this he sees, far off
in the distance,
the first tree set itself on fire . . .
1997
© 2001, Simon Patton
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