余笑忠，1965年1月生于湖北蕲春农家。1982年考入北京广播学院文艺编辑系。1986年起供职于湖北电台。曾获《星星诗刊》、《诗歌月刊》联合评选的“2003 中国年度诗歌奖”、2005-2006年度“后天诗歌奖”、第三届“扬子江诗学奖▪诗歌奖”、第十二届“十月文学奖▪诗歌奖”、第五届“西部文学奖▪诗歌奖”。

Yu Xiaozhong (b1965, 余笑忠) was born in the rural area of Qichun county in eastern Hubei. He graduated from Beijing Broadcasting Institute in 1986 and has worked for Hubei Radio Station since then. He started writing poetry in college and has won a number of prizes such as the 2003 Chinese Poetry Prize awarded jointly by the Star Poetry Monthly and Poetry Monthly, the third Yangtze River Poetry Prize, the twelfth October Literary Prize in 2015，the fifth West Literary Prize in 2018.

◎目击道存

阳台的铁栏杆上有一坨鸟粪
我没有动手将它清理掉，出于
对飞翔的生灵的敬意
我甚至愿意
把它看成
铁锈上的一朵花                 

2015.7.24


WITNESSING TAOISM
Yu Xiaozhong

In my balcony, there’s a bird dropping
on the iron rails.
I will not clean it off
out of respect for flying creatures.
I will not clean it
off.
I will even take it
as a flower
on rust.

(2015)

Translated by Ming Di

◎无 题

那些保留下来的信
同时保留着信封
邮寄地、到达地、邮戳

那些保留下来的信
带有最初的折痕
重读一次，需要抚平一次
又原样折叠，放回

那些没有寄出而保留下来的书信
也有一个信封
或者，要给它找一个信封

庄重如选墓地

2017.10.22


UNTITLED
Yu Xiaozhong

The letters are saved
along with the envelopes,
who sent it, from where and to where,
stamps and postmarks.

The letters maintain the creases
initially folded.
Each time I read a letter, I unfold it,
and fold it back in its original folds.

The letters not sent but saved
also have envelopes.
Or, I need to find an envelope for each
in a grave way
as if selecting for each a grave.

(2017)

Translated by Ming Di


◎二月一日，晨起观雪
 
不要向沉默的人探问
何以沉默的缘由

早起的人看到清静的雪
昨夜，雪兀自下着，不声不响

盲人在盲人的世界里
我们在暗处而他们在明处

我后悔曾拉一个会唱歌的盲女合影
她的顺从，有如雪
落在艰深的大海上
我本该只向她躬身行礼

2015.2.1


Watching Snow in the Morning  of February 1st 
Yu Xiaozhong

Never ask the silent people
The cause of their silence.

An early riser sees  the quiet snow
falling silence last night, without a sound.

The blind live in their own world
We are in the dark and them  in the light

I regret having taken a photo
With a blind girl ; her obedience was like snow
falling on deep ocean. I should have done 
no more than bowing to her

Translated by Ou Shilin


◎顿 悟

两只喜鹊在草地上觅食
当我路过那里时它们默默飞走了
无论我多么轻手轻脚，都不会有
自设的善意的舞台

退回到远观它们的那一刻
那时我想过：当它们不啼叫时
仿佛不再是喜鹊
只是羽毛凌乱的饿鸟

从什么时候开始，我已认定
喜鹊就应该有喜鹊的样子呢
从什么时候开始，我已假定
如果巫师被蛇咬了，就不再是巫师呢

这些疑问，随两只喜鹊顿悟般的
振翅飞起而释然了。有朝一日
我可能是不复鸣叫的
某只秋虫，刚填进它们的腹中

2017.11.8，2018.1.18


Insight
Yu Xiaozhong

Two magpies are foraging on the grass. 
Silently they flew away, when I passed. 
No matter how much caution I take, there's no stage 
of kindness by self-assumption. 

Back to the moment I beheld them from a distance, 
I was thinking that they no longer seemed to be magpies 
when they did not crow, 
but just hungry birds with a mess of feathers 

Since when I became so determined 
that magpies should look like magpies ? 
Since when I have assumed that a wizard bitten by a snake 
will no longer be a wizard ? 

I feel relieved of these questions when the magpies 
flutter away in their own epiphany. Some day in the future 
I might be a certain autumn insect filled in their belly 
that no longer chirps.

Translated by Ou Shilin


◎宿醉后醒来

宿醉后醒来，看手机，五点二十分
尘世安静，惟有鸟鸣声声
百灵鸟、喜鹊、画眉，如此殷勤    
仿佛要接我到新世界    
此时离李白近，离解放大道远
离故去的老父近，离银行卡号远
离从深井里汲水的杰克▪吉尔伯特近
离教训我的老僧远
离花香近，离太阳远
太阳就要升起
在此时的我和昨夜的我之间
有一道裂隙，深不见底
我已无所忆。太阳不会大白于天下

2016.3.28


WAKING UP AFTER A DRUNKEN NIGHT
YU Xiaozhong

Waking up after a drunken night, I read 5:20 a.m. on my mobile phone,
and the world is quiet except for the bird singings from the larkes, magpies,
and thrushes, so hospitable
as if to bring me to a new world.
At this moment, Li Po is closer and the Liberty Avenue below farther away. 
My late father is closer and my bank card number farther away.
Closer is Jack Gilbert who writes “I was getting water tonight…”
and farther away is the old monk who once taught me a lesson.
Closer comes the scent of flowers while the sun stays farther away. 
Now the sun is about to rise. 
Between what I am and what I was 
there is a gap unmeasurably deep.
I remember almost nothing. The sun will not reveal everything.

Translated by LIU Xiangyang


◎偶 遇
 
黎明即起，沿江岸散步
凉风吹来，有宿债一笔勾销的快意
 
路遇三个女摄影师
正为一只小划子兴奋不已
用她们的话说，在开阔的江面上
一只小划子、一个男人驾船凌波而行
那派头——“看起来真是浪漫”
可以想象，她们的镜头将忽略
沉稳如老者的大货轮
 
在毗邻的草坪上
我独自目睹了另一幕
一条蛇缓慢地游移
接近路边的小树时
它也有过观望
然后扭身横穿过水泥路面
这造物完全失去了隐蔽
就在我的眼皮底下
它钻入一间小屋的石砌屋基
我知道，它同样来自于江水中
但为自己如此平心静气地旁观感到惊奇
 
我没有投之以石
也许，我早已认定
如果你打死一条蛇
那死蛇，会转而在你的梦中现身

2018.6.17


Encounter
Yu Xiaozhong
 
Rising at dawn, I walk along the bank.
Cool wind blows joyfully
like old debts being cancelled.
Coming across are three women photographers
excited about a kayak.
A man in a kayak sailing on the open river
above the waves, in their words, " looks romantic".
You may imagine that their lenses will ignore the huge cargo ship
moving stably like an elderly.
 
On the lawn adjacent
I witness another scene on my own.          
A snake drifts by
slowly to a small tree on the roadside.
It does looks on
before twisting across the cement path.
Having entirely lost its refuge, the creature squeezes
into the stone base of a small house, right under my eyes.
I know it's also from the river, yet I am surprised to see myself
being so calm as an on-looker.
 
I do not throw a stone on it
for I might have been in the belief that should you kill a snake,
it would appear in its death
in your dreams.
2018-06-17
 
(Translated from Chinese by Ou Shilin)


◎哭 墙
 
怎样的石头
怎样的高墙
教堂只余半壁，旋即
罗马人的怒火
将它化为齑粉

怎样的双手
抚摸石头
如抚摸一扇门
不复存在之门
因此抚摸的是
另一双手，手心贴着手心
抚摸的是另一个人
光洁的额头，蒙霜的睫毛
摸到了睫毛油，摸到了灰烬
摸到了永别之前
屈膝深埋的……

在昏花的老眼看来，黎明
即已沦为黄昏
“所有的诗人都是犹太人。”
所有的高墙
都有痛哭的一面

你有不能揉掉的
眼底之沙。而哭墙
哭墙的石缝里
还会长出青草 

2011.6.16


Wailing Wall
Yu Xiaozhong

What stone
What wall
The Temple dilapidated, in a blink
The Romans’ furious flame
Turned it into dust

What hands
Caress the stones
Like caressing a door
A non-existent door
Thus they are caressing
Another pair of hands, palm to palm
They are caressing another person
Sleek forehead, frosted eyelashes
Even mascara, and ashes
And that which was buried on their knees
Before that eternal farewell…

In dim sight, the dawn
Has been reduced to dusk
“All poets are Jews.”
And all walls 
Wailing 

A grain of sand in your eye
You cannot rub off, while from the wailing wall
From the crevices of the wailing wall
Grass grows

Translated by Li Hui


◎木芙蓉  

如今我相信，来到梦里的一切
都历经长途跋涉
偶尔，借我们的梦得以停歇
 
像那些离开老房子的人
以耄耋之年，以老病之躯
结识新邻居

像夕光中旋飞的鸽子
一只紧随着另一只
仿佛，就要凑上去耳语

像寒露后盛开的木芙蓉
它的名字是借来的，因而注定
要在意义不明的角色中
投入全副身心

2016.1.13


Hibiscus
Yu Xiaozhong
 
Now I believe all that appear in dreams
have taken a long, arduous journey,
and by chance come to our dreams to rest with us.
 
Much like those who left their old homes,
now antediluvian,
get acquainted with new neighbors.
 
Much like the pigeons in the glow of sunset,
circling near one another
nudge even closer to whisper.
 
Much like hibiscus that blooms after autumn frost,
its name tells its borrowed status, predetermined
to take an ambiguous role,
will do almost any task.

Translated by Duck Yard Lyricists
Duck Yard Lyricists is consisted of 4 devoted poetry lovers: Meifu Wang, Peter Micic, Michael Soper & Johan Ramaekers


◎为蕲河作

一条能够行船的河流
在我看来，胜过一条不能行船的河流
尤其是，当它们
是同一条河

人们用多长时间毁了这条河
三十年，还是六十载？
山水的所有悲哀，一一汇集于此
这河床被抬高的
忧愁之河

它只是一条大江的小支流
无数条河流经历着相似的命运
无数条河流一起倾泻着它的悲哀
仿佛上游的悲哀
还远远不够

仿佛我这个低能的诗人
总在述说着：如果……如果……
那么再说一次吧：如果，我能够乘一条小船
回到我的家乡多好
哪怕我不慎掉落水中，被河水
呛得泪流满面

我也会高声对你说：异乡人
你若到蕲春，请坐上这样的船
你若到我的家乡，请逆流而上

2012.5.24


River Qi
Yu Xiaozhong

The River Qi, pronounced chi, is one of the thousand tributaries of the Yangtze River in Hubei province. Located upstream, the Three Gorges Dam is the world’s largest hydroelectric-power station. In China, people are not allowed to talk about the dam’s construction, which displaced millions, caused natural disasters, damaged the environment, and destroyed the oldest archaeological sites in the country.
 
A river you can sail along
is more than just a river
especially when you can sail
with the flow---the sailing
and flowing become one stream.
 
How long has it being like this?
Not long.
Damaged and ruined for thirty years.
Or sixty years.
All nature’s agonies converge here
in the river of grief
that raises the riverbed,
 
A small tributary of the Yangtze.
A small stream of a bigger phenomenon.
Many rivers run into the same fate.
Many rivers pour out their sadness
As if the sadness upstream
isn’t sad enough,
as if I’ve been speaking, speaking nonstop
with a retarded mind: if only…if only…
Well, let me say it once again. If only I can sail a boat
back to my old home
even if I inadvertently fall into water, choking
jerking about, and swearing,
 
I will say to you loudly: Hello stranger,
if you ever come to River Qi, please sail with me
against the tides.

Translated by Ming Di and Kerry Shawn Keys


◎凝 神

这一刻我想起我的母亲，我想起年轻的她
把我放进摇篮里
 
那是劳作的间隙
她轻轻摇晃我，她一遍遍哼着我的奶名
 
我看到
我的母亲对着那些兴冲冲喊她出去的人
又是摇头，又是摆手

2009.3.10


Getting lost in thought
Yu Xiaozhong 

At this moment my mother lingers in my mind.
I think of her as a young woman who 
put me in the cradle
 
That was the short breaks after hard work in which
She shook me gently, humming my baby name over and over.
 
I see
my mother looking at those people calling her to go out
turning her head and waving her hands.

（Translated by Li Hui）

谨向译者明迪女士、欧世林先生、柳向阳先生、李晖女士及鸭先知编译团（Duck Yard Lyricists）致谢！