周瑟瑟诗歌英译

 

 [北京]周瑟瑟

 

林中鸟

 

父亲在山林里沉睡，我摸黑起床

听见林中鸟在鸟巢里细细诉说：“天就要亮了，

那个儿子要来找他父亲。”

我踩着落叶，像一个人世的小偷

我躲过伤心的母亲，天正麻麻亮

鸟巢里的父母与孩子挤在一起，它们在开早会

它们讨论的是我与我父亲：“那个人没了父亲

谁给他觅食？谁给他翅膀？ ”

我听见它们在活动翅膀，晨曦照亮了尖嘴与粉嫩的脚趾

“来了来了，那个人来了——

他的脸上没有泪，但他好像一夜没睡像条可怜的黑狗。”

我继续前行，它们跟踪我，在我头上飞过来飞过去

它们唧唧喳喳议论我——“他跪下了，他跪下了，

他脸上一行泪却闪闪发亮……”

 

 [ Beijing] Zhou Sese

The Birds in the Forest（and another poem）

 

My father was sleeping deeply in the forest, and I got up in the darkness

I heard the birds in the forest talking slowly in bird nest: “it will soon be light

That son will come to find his father”

I stepped on fallen leaves as a thief in the world

I slid over my sad mother as the day was beginning to break

The parents in the bird nest huddled together with their children and they were having an early meeting

What they were talking about was my father and I: “that man has no father

Who will find food for him? Who will give him wings? ”

I heard they were exercising their wings, with their sharp beaks and tender pink feet lit up in morning rays

“coming, coming, that man is coming —

No tears on his face, but he seems like a poor black dog stayed up all night”

I kept on going and they were following me and flying over my head again and again

They were chirping to discuss me — “ he’s knelt down, he’s knelt down

A line of tears on his face is shining…”

 

 

父亲的新家

 

这些杉树至少有三十年了

我小时候就坐在林中看《读者文摘》与《故事会》

那是父亲最早给我们兄弟订的刊物

现在由这些高高耸立的杉树守护我的父亲

去年父亲身体尚好，他用推土机推出了一片空地

为自己规划新家——“上边是你伯父，我居下边。”

我们父子在山上谈话，谈的是父亲身后事

那时透过杉树尖顶，能看见一片天空碧蓝

现在我独自一人，围着埋葬父亲的黄土打转

林中鸟比去年我与父亲在时要多

它们都有一颗善良的心，为寂静的墓地增添热闹

我仔细察看，黄土经过七月雨水的清洗

粒粒饱满，泛着金黄的光泽

堂哥来给新坟护土，他说：“我闻到了你父亲的气息。”

杉树静默化为我身，黄土有了父亲容忍的性格

那一堆黄土仿佛山林中的黄金，养着我的父亲

 

 

 

Father’s New Home

 

These fir trees are at least thirty years

When I was young I often sat to reading Reader’s Digest and Stories Magazine in the forest

Those are the earliest magazines that my father ordered for my brother and me

Now these fir trees stood high are guarding my father

Last year, my father was in good health, and he launched a clearing by a bulldozer

To plan a new home for himself —“ on is your uncle and I live below” 

My father and I were talking in the mountains, and talking about something after he died

At that time through the top of fir trees, we could see a piece of sky was so blue

Now I am alone, circling around the loess buried my father

In the forest, the birds are more than last year my father and I were here

They all have their virtuous hearts to add the bustling noise and excitement for this silent cemetery

I examined it closely, and the loess washed by the rain in July

With each grain plump, is shining as the gold

My cousin came to nurse the new tomb, and he said: “I smell the breath of your father”

The fir trees in silence turn into my body and the loess have my father’s tolerant character

The pile of loess as if it is the gold in the mountains, raising my father 

(Translated by Sophy Chen)

春雷还没到来

 

三月过了一半，世道就变了

残冬变成早春，故人变成灰

 

出门我碰见残雪

我只能叫它春雪

 

草木发新芽

灰头灰脑的，如旧时代的怨妇

但我还是叫它新芽

 

我以为它死了

路边的枯树拥有豁免权

石灰脸换了一幅仁慈的脸

所谓爱，在人世便是另一种伤害

 

雷声在南方漆黑的夜里叫醒了

与世隔绝的故乡

京城残雪如侮辱后的哭泣

等待春雷惊醒的那一刻

 

我穿着笨重的冬衣

写诗，饮酒，须发乱舞

我就是那个渴望春雷的人

也是那个在春酒里对天发誓的人

2012.3．20．夜

 

 

The spring thunder has not come

 

March just passed halfway, the times has changed

Pale end of winter into early spring while old friends into ashes

 

Going outdoor, I meet lingering snow

Which I am supposed to name early snow

 

Grass and trees bloom

In grey, like spinster in ancient times

But still I name it new buds

 

I thought they were dead

And dead trees beside the road possess immunity from prosecution

Lime should wear a kind face

What we call love, is another kind of harm in this earthly world

 

The thunder roaring in the dark night south wake up

The home country isolated from this earthly world

Lingering snow in Beijing, like the weeping after being humiliated

Is waiting the moment when the spring thunder wakes up

 

Wearing heavy warm clothes for winter

I write poems, drink, with hair and beards loose

Actually I am the man who is desiring the spring thunder

And who is swear to the heaven in spring wine.

Midnight 2013/12/31

                                           （Tr. by Wang Guoji）