My Rambling Poems Lag Far Behind the Era
By YANG Weidong (Inquiring Sword)
Translated by ZHANG Junfeng (Celestial Light)
While people are enjoying a weekend night out
I am gazing at the vegetation behind the hill
People are talking about metaphors, tension, irony and the like
Yet I know nothing about structuralism and deconstructivism
I often invite a common breeze into my poems
Garrulous, furious, and coarse
It is but an acre of land away from aesthetics
That is just what I’m proud of. My poems
See desolation and senility
As Hai Zi saw a dream in the wheat field
And as Van Gogh saw the swaying sky
I write but for the future, leaving the present to others
Standing behind the era
You can see it more clearly, just as
I can feel more keenly your look far away
The cold night outside the window’s frozen on the branches
I don’t want to write about the moonlight
Because it knows little about my agony
Revisiting the Pavilion of Prince Teng
By LI Lei (Flashing Sword)
Translated by SHI Panrong (Celestial Pivot)
Time flies, but you tower over the great river
Alone and aloof, witnessing the torrent
Huge waves wash away sand, and above all
A prince, songs, dances, his jewelry and horses’ bells
But the ordinary poet’s name remains brilliant
The evening glow hangs on the branch of winter
Leaving the wild duck flying alone; the autumn river
Is sky blue: more great men will sink into oblivion
The old town’s gate tower out there, waterfowls cuddle up
A boat on waves, I’m in the bleak house of Governor of Hong
West Hill bathed in drizzle, free clouds reflected in water
A poem has saved a tower, a town
And a legend. I rush about, in poetry
Seeking a stable life, so a child in cold wind
Feels warmth; he excitedly points to the river
As if to predict the unknown future
I often say, everything fades away, and nothing
Outlives poetry; a poetic heart sparkling
Keeps all sleeping souls awake
A poem’s immortal; a poet lives on a book cover
Shining brightly in memory
A lofty tower is glorious because of a poem
Like the Pavilion, where the prince is no more
The poet is gone freely in a boat
Some cooled names and unreal stages
Have been put into imagery by the poet, whose blood
In winter, lights up clusters of maple leaves
And time, as well as the height of a soul
(December 21, 2018, at the Pavilion of Prince Teng)
Poems Untitled, No. 24: Boundary Monument
By LUO Guosheng (Broken Sword)
Translated by HUANG Jinzhu (Celestial Shine)
Azure-winged Magpies, butterflies and cole flowers
Together we grow up
And rest here
Time. Space
Boundary monument here, just here
This is the village where I was born
All that is there
Cannot be here
Now, I’m a thousand miles away there
Hearing the sound of snow falling here
The sound of snow falling is just like
That of Azure-winged Magpies, butterflies, cole flowers and me
The north wind is soughing here
Blowing away the sound of time and tide
It is gone, never to return
But I may return
With the sound of snow falling
And settle down
We are here
Growing, sprouting, blooming and fruiting
Until there is no place called there
(Heavy snow in hometown; worldly affairs untold, solitude unbounded)
Waiting at Midnight
By ZHANG Xiaoping (Tender Sword)
Translated by WEI Hongxia (Celestial Ruby)
I’m waiting at midnight for the snow I invite
I won’t leave until you come bright
The wind is blowing across trees and grass
And the world with you I pass
I feel a bit of pain
And a bit cold again
Warm trace
Left by shoes overlapping in snow’s face
Walking on snow, I want to break a branch of plum, though
And put it on your sill, as I did long ago
Suddenly I recall well, it won’t snow where you dwell
A sweet place, the paradise
Where green moss overgrows likewise
(Tender Sword, Jan. 9, 2019)
透过巨大的玻璃窗,火
刺透夕阳
那清澈的池塘,满满的
潜藏的时光
晶莹剔透的食指
这是将军的命令,江南
洁白的雪花,都
没有眼前的风景漂亮
裸露的枝干,向上
再向上
田野里掩埋的春光
走漏了风声,随着铃铛
传遍了苏杭,每一个
大街小巷
快了,快了
休眠的总会醒来
有些声音随风而逝
有些声音
骑士,四骑士
马蹄声声
号角就要吹响
Winter Sacrifice
By XUE Wu (Soul Sword)
Translated by WANG Changling (Celestial Gem)
Through a giant glass window, fire
Pierces the slanting sun aglow
That limpid pond, overflowing
With latent time
The crystal clear forefinger
Commands as a general; O, Jiangnan
Your lily snowflakes even fail
To rival this striking sight to unfold
Bare branches stretching upward, higher
And higher
Buried in the field, the splendor of spring
Gets leaked out, with bells tinkling
Sweeping Suzhou and Hangzhou, echoing
Through every street and lane
Soon, very soon
The dormant are to come around
There’s many a sound winging away with the wind
There’s many a sound
Horseman, the Four Horsemen
Galloping
The horn’s on the verge of hooting
作者简介
七剑,即七位因诗结缘的中国当代诗人,分别为:龚刚(论剑,澳门大学教授)、杨卫东(问剑,湖北宜昌夷陵中学高级教师)、李磊(花剑,广州仲恺农业工程学院教授)、罗国胜(断剑,上海CEO)、张小平(柔剑,扬州大学教授)、薛武(灵剑,扬州大学博士)、朱坤领(霜剑,广州中山大学博士)。
Authors: Seven-Swordsmen
Seven-Swordsmen are seven contemporary Chinese poets brought together by poetry writing: GONG Gang (Judging Sword, professor, University of Macau);YANG Weidong (Inquiring Sword, senior teacher, Yiling High School, Hubei);LI Lei (Flashing Sword, professor, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering);LUO Guosheng (Broken Sword, CEO, Shanghai);ZHANG Xiaoping (Tender Sword, professor, Yangzhou University);XUE Wu (Soul Sword, Ph.D, Yangzhou University);ZHU Kunling (Frost Sword, Ph.D, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou).
译者简介
七星,即七星译诗社,由七位译者组成,分别为:史潘荣(天枢,西京学院)、王昌玲(天璇,安徽师范大学)、石永浩(天玑,山东财经大学)、王如利(天权,中央民族大学)、魏红霞(玉衡,安徽工程大学)、张俊锋(开阳,上海理工大学)、黄金珠(瑶光,中信重工公司)。
Translators: Seven Stars
Seven Stars refers to The Society of Seven Stars Translating Poetry, including seven translators: SHI Panrong (Celestial Pivot, Xijing University);WANG Changling (Celestial Gem, Anhui Normal University);SHI Yonghao (Celestial Pearl, Shandong University of Finance and Economics);WANG Ruli (Celestial Scale, Minzu University of China);WEI Hongxia (Celestial Ruby, Anhui Polytechnic University);ZHANG Junfeng (Celestial Light, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology);HUANG Jinzhu (Celestial Shine, CITIC Heavy Industries Co., Ltd.).