叶德庆[上海] 人间论（组诗）[汉英对照，董秀静 译]

叶德庆[上海]

人间论  （组诗）

人间论

人间是个虚词。是否包括灵魂

小镇关闭，除了流水和风

庙，闭关很久，除了麻雀和经声

门坊是虚的。两只石狮爬上三级台阶

左右各镇一方

落成那天，是被人类五花大绑来的

威武、忠实及其它赞美之词

唯独失去敬畏

这些与人类争夺地盘、赶回山里的

又被一一请出来，寄予厚望

而灵魂借住在庙的一块菜地

一棵青菜上的虫正在吃素

没有一点油盐

庙太小，没有住持，不谈人性

外套

进门以后，我把外套脱掉

据说，这是一张兽皮，没有骨头

柔如蚕丝，一点褶皱没有

挂在衣架上。我想它

最后一次挂在树干上的样子

一个老练的猎人，如何

剥下一张完整的皮

但我不知道这张皮的真假

有点像我，已经没心没肝没肺

我的怀疑来自于外套的口袋

兽是没有口袋的。难道是袋鼠

我下意识地摸了摸外套的口袋

杜撰了一个老人的清福

砧板者

天生天养的白果木，取出一部分骨肉

经过反复修辞，有的为木鱼

修行一生。有的为乐器，与弦共鸣

因为天生的韧性，柔中藏刚

天然药香，成为蛀虫的大敌

性格使然，不弯、不翘

我与一块白果木同处一室

它为砧板，我做主人

我们搭伙过日子

我看上它的耐腐蚀性、富有弹性

抗高温又防潮。它可能看上我

迂腐、做事不留余地，冷漠……

命中正好互补

借刀杀生

这一块白果木活了一百年，一身是药

救了多少人的命

在我这儿为砧板者

与我敲出隔世的声响

为蔬菜和鱼肉超度

每晚我为砧板沐浴，靠在墙上

像一个面壁思过的人

我躺在床上三思，我们命运相似的一部分

罗汉记

五百罗汉，各自住在一寸见方的

象牙里，姿态各异。象牙是白的

我仍然能够听见大象的叫声

每一位罗汉的身体里藏着一头大象

我看见的是大象群

罗汉镶嵌在五百间木房子里

成为彼此的邻居

朝拜者按照自己的年龄数罗汉

看自己的前世是什么样子

我也跟着数。当我数到我的前世

我看见一头大象

从罗汉的身体里朝我走来

“我已不需人间的食物了”*

在房子里跑圈的人，想起拉磨的驴

两只鸟在笼子里，一只愚钝

一只饿喙铁栏

人开始从窗口给人投食

君士坦丁大帝创造的一周七天的制度

在东方，除了计算孕期和例假

开始计算自由

和风，白白地从大老远跑来

雨水白白地跟着风。已经无人迎春

人们正在与丰满和鲜嫩失之交臂

与四月绝交

人间有约的流浪猫等候在小树林

有一种再一次被抛弃的感觉

一位孕妇肚子里的孩子赶往人间

君士坦丁大帝早已经解决了时间问题

上帝不会永远沉默

“我已不需人间的食物了”

    *源自格林童话故事《上帝的食物》。

Ye Deqing [Shanghai]

On Mortal World (group poems)

On Mortal World

Mortal world is void. Whether it includes soul or not

The town is closed, except for running water and wind

The door of the temple, has been closed for a long time, except for sparrows and monks’ chanting

The door lane is empty. Two stone lions climb up the three steps

Protecting the safety of the family in either direction

On the day of completion, both of them were trussed up by people

Mighty, faithful and other compliments

Except for awe and reverence

Those who once fought for territory against humans and retreated to the mountains

Are now invited to come out one by one and placed high expectations on

And the soul lives in a vegetable field in the temple

A worm on greens is eating the vegetable

Without any oil or salt

The temple is too small, so there is no abbot, let alone the talk about humanity

Overcoat

After entering the house, I took off my overcoat

It was said to be an animal hide, without bones

Soft as silk, devoid of wrinkles

Hung on a hanger. I imagined

The last time it was hung on a tree trunk

How, did a seasoned hunter

Peel off a whole piece of skin

But I don’t know if it’s genuine

It is like me to some extent, no heart, no liver and no lungs

My doubt came from its pocket

An animal has no pocket. Can it be a kangroo?

I touched the pocket subconsciously

And pictured an old man’s carefree life

Cutting Board

A block of naturally grown ginkgo, has a portion of its flesh taken out

After being polished repeatedly, some become temple blocks

Cultivating and improving itself for a lifetime.

Some become musical instruments, resonating with the string

Because of innate resilience, it is soft outside but firm inside

With natural herbal fragrance, it is the enemy of moths

Its character is just like this, no bending or sticking up

I share a room with a block of ginkgo

It serves as a chopping board while I’m the master

We accompany each other

I like its corrosion-resistance and elasticity

Resistant to heat and moisture. It’s probably fond of me

Pedantry, leaving room for nothing, indifference

We are destined to complement each other

And kill animals with a knife

This block of ginkgo has lived for a hundred years, every part of which can serve as herbal medicine

It has saved countless lives

As a chopping board in my house

It produces sound of another world when knocked

Making salvations for vegetables, fish and meat

Every evening I bathe my chopping board, leaning it against the wall

Like a person facing the wall and pondering about his misdeed

Lying in bed, I think over and over again, the similarities between our fates

On Arhats

Five hundred Arhats, each lives in an inch square of

Ivory, with unique gestures. The ivory is white

I can still hear the call of the elephants

Inside each Arhat hides an elephant

What I have seen is a herd of elephants

The Arhats are inset in five hundred wooden houses

One next to another

The worshippers count the Arhats according to their own ages

To see what themselves were in their previous life

I count, too. When I count to my previous life

I see an elephant

Coming towards me from the body of an Arhat

“I have no need of earthly food”*

A man running in a circle inside a house suddenly thinks of a donkey pulling a mill

Two birds in a cage, one is dull

The other is pecking at the iron bars wildly

People started feeding their mates through the window

The seven-day week system created by Constantine the Great

Can be used in the calculation of pregnancy and period in the East

And now also in the calculation of freedom

Gentle breeze, has come all this way for nothing

The rain follows the breeze in vain. None greets the Spring

People are missing out on fullness and tenderness

And defriending April

A stray cat with an appointment in mortal world is waiting in the woods

Retasting the feeling of abandonment once again

A child in the belly of a pregnant woman is hurrying to the mortal world

Constantine has already solved the problem of time

God will not be silent forever

“I have no need of earthly food”

    *From “The Food of God” of Grimms’ Fairy Tales

     (Translated by Dong Xiujing；董秀静 译)

作者简介：

叶德庆，中国当代诗人。祖籍湖北武汉市汉阳，现居上海。上世纪80年代开始发表诗歌、散文、小说，曾停笔十五年，近年来新作刊发于《人民文学》《诗刊》《山花》《延河》等报刊。已出版诗集《时间中的蓝色风景》《人间论》。

About the author:

   Ye Deqing, a contemporary poet in China, is originally from Hanyang, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, and now lives in Shanghai. Many of his poems, essays and novels have been published since the 1980s. He has kept writing for 15 years and his latest works have been published in various magazines such as People’s Literature, Poetry Periodical, Mountain Flowers, Yanhe River and so on in recent years. Besides, he has published two collections of poems: The Blue Landscape of Time and On Mortal World.

译者简介：

董秀静，外国语言学及应用语言学硕士，太原工业学院外语部副教授，研究方向为翻译理论与实践。主持山西省哲学社会科学规划和省高校外语教学与研究专项、校级教改和科研课题各1项。出版专著和译著各1部，发表学术论文16篇。持有教育部和人事部二级英语笔译证书，曾获山西省翻译协会翻译大赛二等奖、第十届“全球百人百译”翻译大赛二等奖。

About the translator:

  Dong Xiujing, with her Master’s Degree of Arts in Foreign linguistics and applied linguistics, is now an associate professor in the Department of Foreign Languages in Taiyuan Institute of Technology. Her research direction is translation theory and practice. She has presided over two provincial projects and two school-level projects. Up to now, she has published an academic book, a translation and 16 provincial academic papers. She has got the English Translation Certificates of NAETI and CATTI (Level II). And she has won the second prize in both the Translation Contests held by Translators Association of Shanxi Province and “100 Translators, 100 Translations in the World” Committee.