| old horse | the child in formalin | to like a beast | in remembrance |
| the wolf’s coming | at St Mary’s Hospital | Nanjing |
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Yao Feng
used to handlebars, pedestrians and cars used not to running dirty and flabby skins like the dusk flayed close to black night the metal horse’s hooves make a grassland track much longer
I sit inside a noisy pub you’re there, head lowered you’ve brought the big carriage right up the slope I don’t know how it’s said in horse, but what I mean to say’s just this: ‘old horse, let’s have a drink’ – translated by Agnes Vong and Christopher Kelen
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姚風 老馬
習慣了車把式、行人和汽車 也就習慣了不再奔跑 毛皮像一塊黃昏 骯髒，鬆弛，已接近黑夜 金屬的馬蹄 使沒有草的路更加漫長
我坐在縣城嘈雜的小酒館 看著你使盡力氣低下頭 把大車拉上了斜坡 卻不懂用你的語言喊一聲： 老 馬，進來喝一杯吧！ |
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Yao Feng
in the ward sat in formalin cold, swollen, pale but freedom undeterred your lips slightly opened tears beginning holding only your own fingerprints
not knowing freedom you have none to lose this shows me that I must be satisfied possessing only freedom’s decay
– translated by Agnes Vong and Christopher Kelen
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姚風 福馬林中的孩子
在病理室 看見你坐在福馬林中 冰冷，浮腫，蒼白 卻沒有腐爛的自由 嘴唇微微張開 還在呼喚第一聲啼哭 緊攥的小手 抓住的只有自己的指紋
你沒有腐爛的自由 你讓我對生活感到滿足 呵，自由，腐爛的自由 我畢竟擁有 |
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Yao Feng
in Alentejo I saw this horse – elegant, strong white of hair, pure by nature grazing quietly on green grass hooves up from time to time or chasing off horseflies with its tail
simple, absolute, perfect creation bright eyes show no sign of impurity aside from grazing and galloping it never concerns itself with a better life
tenderness grew in my heart my loneliness touching this in a world of changes it is easier to like a beast than it is to like a human
– translated by Jenny Lao and Christopher Kelen
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姚風 喜歡一頭畜牲
在阿連特茹 看見這匹馬，高貴，強健 白色的鬃毛，像它的本性那麼純淨 它靜靜吃著青草 不時抬起蹄子，或用尾巴驅趕馬蠅 簡單，純粹，完美的造物 明亮的眼睛裏沒有摻雜一絲雜質 除了吃草和奔跑 它並不思索如何過得更好 我心生柔情，輕輕撫摸它的皮毛 在我孤獨的內心，在這易變的塵世 喜歡一頭畜牲 比 喜歡一個人更加容易 |
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Yao Feng
the wolf’s coming
the sheep didn’t run they stopped eating the grass formed up a queue like cotton wool
the wolf howled at the flock ‘it’s hot as hell, this weather!’ all the sheep took off their coats
– translated by Agnes Vong and Christopher Kelen
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姚風 狼來了
狼來了 羊們沒有跑 他們停止了吃草 排成整齊的行列 像一壟壟棉花
狼嚎了一聲： 天氣真他媽熱！ 所有的羊 都脫下了皮大衣 |
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Yao Feng
I put a bunch of flowers into a vase and said ‘you have to blossom’ the flowers lowered their heads, calmly replied ‘one withered bloom, you’re gone’
– translated by Jenny Lao and Christopher Kelen
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姚風 紀念
我把一束花插進瓶子，說： 你是必須開放的 花兒低下頭，淡淡地回答： 我用一朵枯花把你消滅 |
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Yao Feng
under the white covers, you give me your hand it’s slender, dry and those Cutex nails are like plum blossoms, shining in winter branches
these fingernails, these flowers you have pruned one by one letting them blossom again and again
they are at the margin of body and of life always clean, vivid, even in this state hospital which is as messy as the country
holding your hand, I feel the blood rising drained from the red nails I remember in your book you wrote how on a corpse the nails are last to rot
– translated by Agnes Vong and Christopher Kelen
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姚風 在聖瑪麗婭醫院
從白色的被單中，你向我伸出一隻手 它修長，枯乾，塗著蔻丹的指甲 像梅花，把冬天的樹枝照耀 這些指甲，這些花，你一次次剪掉 又讓它們一次次怒放
它們，位於你生活和身體的邊緣 但總是這麼潔淨，這麼鮮豔 哪怕在這所 和國家一樣混亂的國家醫院
抓住你的手，感到褐色的血管隆起 血液蠕動，從紅色的指尖折返 記得你在書中說，在死亡的肉體中 指甲是最後腐爛的物質 |
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Yao Feng
it’s drizzling, here I am in Nanjing again the French phoenix trees still chat in Chinese rain flower pebbles look clean sat in the pots on the street, opening their eyes wide
I like Nanjing I enjoy meeting my friends in the pubs we talk about the country, poetry and women but neither the children of the victims nor the survivors of the massacre have ever spoken of history with me
– translated by Agnes Vong and Christopher Kelen |
姚風 南京
細雨濛濛，我又來到了南京 法國梧桐仍用漢語交談 雨花石似乎已經乾淨 坐在街邊的水盆中，睜大繽紛的眼睛
我喜歡南京 喜歡和這裏的朋友聚在酒吧 談一談祖國、詩歌和女人 但這些南京大屠殺倖存者或罹難者的後代 從未跟我談起歷史 |