—————中译外—————

三、玉梯：柏桦的诗（7首）…………………………………BH, LMK, WNH等译

抒情诗：

1．In the Qing Dynasty

2．Autumn’s Weapons

3.   For Mandelstam

4.  Jonestown

5.  Spring Jaunt

6.  Summer 1966

7.  The Suzhou Year

柏桦（1956-）

西南交通大学中文系教授，博士生导师，诗人。1979年始从事诗歌、随笔创作、文学批评及英美文学翻译活动， 2006年荣获西南交通大学黄袁教职工创新奖，四川省有突出贡献的优秀专家称号，并获《羊城晚报》花地文学奖、第16届柔刚诗歌奖、《红岩》文学奖等。

著作有诗集《表达》《往事》长篇随笔《去见梁宗岱》、回忆录《左边——毛泽东时代的抒情诗人》等，近年来在《今天》《世界文学》《名作欣赏》等杂志上发表论文有：《非非主义的终结》《中国人的理想与日常生活》《对失去汉学中心的焦虑》《回忆：一个时代的翻译和写作》《从主体到身体——关于当代诗歌写作的一种倾向性》《早期地下文学场域中的传奇与占位考察：贵州和北京》《心灵与背景：共同主题下的影响——论帕斯捷尔纳克对王家新的唤醒》《〈望海潮〉里梦杭州》《比冰和铁更刺人心肠的欢乐----波德莱尔在中国》《读<鱼篓令>兼谈诗歌中的地名》等。

In the Qing Dynasty

in the Qing Dynasty


idleness and the ideal went deeper and deeper


cows and sheep were at peace, the people played chess

and imperial exams were just and fair


currencies were different in different places


sometimes even grain was exchanged for


tea leaves, silk, porcelain

in the Qing Dynasty


landscape painting had attained perfection

papers were overflowing, kites everywhere

lanterns were well-proportioned


temple after temple faced south


there seemed an excess of wealth and fortune

in the Qing Dynasty


poets cared nothing for a living, only for reputation


drank wine as petals fell, the wind gentle and the sun warm even the pond-water was fertile


ducks swam in pairs before the wind


– just so horses in heat do not couple with cattle 28

in the Qing Dynasty


someone dreamed about someone


reading the Grand Historian in the night,29sweeping the floor at dawn

and the Court established the Council of State


every year promoted long-nailed mandarins

in the Qing Dynasty


men both bewhiskered and clean-shaven


were strict on teaching by example, solemn in speech and manners

country folk were reluctant to learn their letters


children respected their elders

mothers ceded power to their sons

in the Qing Dynasty


with taxes and with dues the people were heartened

irrigation works were built, schools managed, ancestral halls maintained


books were printed, local gazetteers assembled


habitations decked out in the antique style

in the Qing Dynasty


philosophy poured down like rain, science couldn’t keep up someone was playing six and two threes 30


gratuitously anxious


rage became his life-long career


until, in 1840, he died

[BH, LMK, WNH]

Autumn’s Weapons

struggle moves to extremes


slogans move to extremes


the stone-eating bayonet moves to extremes

I hear the degeneration of the air

this suits you perfectly


in ancient autumns


a man would die for this


swallowing ennui


swallowing paper tigers


the voice of the people never in the ear

today I want to start again


investigate each kind of sacrifice


the radiance of charging extortionate prices

 sharp revolutionary bones

30. Literally ‘3 in the morning and 4 at night’ – a quotation from the Zhuangzi story about the monkeys dissatisfied with their 3 nuts in the morning and 4 nuts at night, who were pacified with the offer of 4 in the morning and 3 at night.

at this time, in Chengdu

everybody’s in my face

giving me cars

giving me extremes


giving me violence and the market

Autumn 1986 [BH]

For Mandelstam

He who lived on his nerves

what did he fear?

did he fear the pure state of nudity?

No: he feared the voice

the voice that threw away thought

the poet in my dream

passed through a north too heavy


passed through a childhood thin, feeble, hallucinatory inevitably you came to the mortal world

today is the day I shoulder your eccentricity

today, the day I shoulder your naiveté


today I shout out your tragedy

silence makes clear


poetry’s heart beats, poetry shows mercy,

a guiltless tongue infects language

and this too is one day in my memory

the oxen have stopped the plough


the sickle has given up running for its life

the autumn wind is holding its breath –

Cold, you’ve pushed Moscow’s anxiety

on to the bringing in of winter


you’ve got a grip on bowels, hearts and wordless throats

you face a skyful of snow, craning your neck, expectant –

look, he’s coming


of all our poets the most exasperating ghost!


he’s heading toward me

I’ve begun to belong here


I’ve begun to squeeze myself into your shape


I’ve begun to take the place of your brutal heaven


I, this child from outside who can never grow up faced with all this –


the masses on the roadside – can only be more alone

November 1987 [BH, LMK, WNH]

Jonestown

children, you may begin


this one night of revolution

one night of the life to come


one night of the People’s Temple

the shaking eye of the storm

weary of those invincibles

desperate to bring us there

the enemies in our hallucinations

shower us with attacks


our commune the same as Stalingrad

the air heavy with the smell of Nazis

the time of the hot-blooded vortex is come

emotions breaking through


fingertips stabbing


glue unconditionally surrenders to class


the patience of vain hope struggles with reaction

from spring to autumn


impatience and disappointment spreading everywhere marching teeth gnaw at an unbearable time


the ammunition in boys’ chests longs to explode

eccentric taboos worry at tears


watch the left-over masses already launched

a girl is rehearsing suicide


her lovely hair tending to intensity because she’s crazy

hanging so kindly on her helpless shoulders

the mark of her seventeen years

the one and only mark

but the token of first love in our spirit

our dazzlingly father


the bullets of bliss bang into

his temples his naïve dead soul still pouring forth:

a faith-healing, bushido religion


his body beautiful in its coup d’état

the mountains of corpses are no longer rehearsing

the unprecedented silence swears oaths aloud:

GET THROUGH THE CRISIS


DRILL THE MIND

PURE SACRIFICE

confronting this Night gathers in the betrayal of the flesh

this last Night of humanity


I know this is the night for me to harvest my pain too.

December 1987 [BH, LMK]

Spring Jaunt

the character inside the red walls wants to go home

the frog lying prone under the poplar trees


is which flower, insisting on tendresse?


jasmine? oh, no – a flower that is nameless

I see a girl throwing a leather ball from her little hand

I see a vegetarian holding a fistful of fine sand


old age is a command, heartbreak the ends of the earth everywhere gardens of flowers cover the land

everywhere tender pity is pouring forth

yet, my one and only dear companion and friend


my one and only dancer at springtime’s end


I want, I want


I want to share my joy in your brow, so cool, so radiant

7 March 1989 [BH]

Summer 1966

to grow up, oh, to grow up

only three days, three days!

a heart turned red


a motherland trumpeting on the streets

blow, oh, blow, oh youth come early


blow green love, blow the whole world’s thoughts green too

see how lovely politics is


army uniforms worn in summer

oh, life! oh, joy!


that very last badge


that song of homesickness and freedom

oh, no, that ten-year-old’s flawless heaven

26 December 1989 [BH]

The Suzhou Year

First Lunar Month, first day: the Rising of the Year

farmers wake at dawn to watch the water


open the doors, set off firecrackers three times


carrying in the morning, the younger generations kowtow

the neighbourhood offers New Year greetings

farmers are busy with their own affairs

fifth day: birthday of the God of Wealth

farmers greet visitors one after the other

buy cloth

fifteenth day: hang stove lanterns beneath the kitchen cabinet for five successive nights


hang up tree-lanterns, set out a grand lantern market


in the countryside, crowds blot out the sun

women cross three stone bridges to drive away disease

the public beat drums and gongs, bring the festival to life

Second Month eighth day: the Great King crosses the river, monks eat meat

in the holiday week, storms will come


some people are named as deacons, some swallow dirt
farming families will get ready with this weather

for good or bad luck, look at Second Month twentieth day

Third Month third day: ants move rice-grains uphill

farm wives wash their hair, clear their vision


and eat deep-fried food

Qingming Festival: wheat straw cut, early Spring picnics

shafts of deep blue and light green in the water


women go in groups


to pray for everlasting youth

Fourth Month first day: loafers shoulder big gongs and tea chests

in The Night the Squire Joined the Western Army


the russet-clad cast play headsmen


(the actors are butchers, greengrocers, bean curd sellers)

Summer Solstice: three new things are seen – cherry, green plum, barley

on this day, no need for doctors


broad beans are waiting to come into season

Fourth Month fourteenth day: befriend immortals

Master Lü the Progenitor passes by


no need to hide from him


his shadow falling on the crowd saves the world

Fifth Month fifth day: Dragon Boat Festival comes with swords of rushes

comes out of the stand-in for Summer Solstice


kids write KING in stripes upon their foreheads


drape themselves in tiger skins, grab garlic

while the city god is Boss of Bosses

Sixth Month sixth day: monasteries and temples sun the scriptures

every household airs books, paintings, clothes and blankets
stray dogs roll on their backs in puddles


old folk play chess, listen to the storyteller or do nothing

children take tea in seven homes

surfaces seem to shimmer and break up

Autumn Equinox: offer watermelons

make fritters and butterfly-cakes

for a hundred heaven-sent years

Eighth Month fifteenth day: Mid-Autumn Festival

dried persimmons, moon cakes under the moon

when the greens are eaten


serve up the carp

jinxes are not allowed to join in

Ninth Month ninth day: visit the heights outside town

watch clouds, watch trees, watch birds


hawkers will roam the foot of the hill

Eleventh Month: short days and long nights, markets prosper the rich collect their rents, call in debts, add salt to our wounds and Winter Solstice is as big as the New Year


farmers respect this day

Winter Solstice: the family share New Year’s Eve dinner

bean sprouts for all you desire, cabbage for happiness

sticky rice cake and sweet rice balls mean union and unity

sons are not allowed to leave town

married daughters bring bad luck to their own families

leave pumpkins outside the door all night

Twelfth Month: bring the year in, see the Kitchen God off many hand-made lanterns and lamps


the bustle, the buzz and the genteel excuse me

New Year’s Eve: more chicken and duck and fish and pork beggars with lanterns after luck-pennies


endless coming and going, up till dawn

End of New Year’s Eve: boys talk of absent friends


with melon seeds comes a new year and good luck


mice are young girls’ enemies


only the great don’t grow old: set off firecrackers three times

[BH, LMK, WNH]