— Photo by Steven Bradbury
Three Poems by Hsia Yü 夏宇
Translated by Steve Bradbury
一個這樣一個又一個三天兩夜
古希臘人相信只要把一切事物
連成一線就可以發現宇宙奧祕
我就用的是虛線
也必有人
尋這虛線前來
除了那不祥的睏意一再被混淆以
多愁善感終於讓一切變得
需索無度—我們真的是不能
這樣不顧一切地尋找自我下去的啊
導致的那些爛詩爛歌爛劇本爛小說
的可憎繁衍導致的各種穩定平衡
再說那些用親密語氣寫成的新聞報導
以及用親密感製作的電視節目怎麼可能
整個時代都在製造這樣前所未有的
親密感我是誠心誠意希望
你們可以找到比我更適合的人
我心煩意亂用失敗的善意
折磨眾人就像那些無關緊要
無以計數的心靈大師一次
又一次懇求我們
這樣一個又一個三天兩夜的漫長週末
到底甚麼是我們還不知道是甚麼的
那件事呢？希臘歌隊適時出現：
「就讓他們一次又一次懇求我們」
這時候遇見你就會很好了
我看見你沿著走過來的那條虛線
那些點不斷移動像電扶梯
我怔怔看那一點一點接近
又遠去的一點一點
那點越過我了即將歸入另一條虛線
你已經來了站在其中的一點
又要被點帶走
One After Another of Those Three-Day Two-Nighters
The ancient Greeks believed that if you took everything
And lined it up in a row you would discover the secrets of the universe
And I just plotted out a dotted line
Someone perhaps following it
Might well be drawn here
Setting aside that ominous torpor which time after time gets muddled up
With a mushy sentimentality invariably making everything
Excessively exacting—we really cannot
Go on like this pursuing self-actualization regardless of the cost
Giving rise to those shitty poems shitty songs shitty scripts shitty novels
Giving rise to all manner of stable equilibriums
And what of all those newscasts concocted in an intimate tone?
And those television programs dripping with intimacy how on earth has
Our entire era become bent on cranking out this unprecedented
Intimacy I hope in all sincerity
You can come up with someone more suited than me
I’m so confused with failed good intentions
Tormenting everyone like those countless immaterial
Spiritual masters who keep imploring us time after time
On those three-day two-night long weekend getaways
What exactly is it that we still don’t get
About their whatever-it-is? A Greek chorus makes a timely appearance:
“Let them try imploring us time after time”
It would be so nice to finally meet you right now
I see you walking on the dotted line you are arriving on
Those dots that keep advancing like an escalator
And so I stand there blankly as they draw ever nearer
Then one by one draw away
That dot that has passed me is on the verge of joining another dotted line
And here you are and the dot you are on
Is at the very point of being carried off by another
天黑的足球場
是嗎宇宙正在膨脹
遙遠的星系正快速離我們遠去
可我自己早已經在膨脹了
膨脹到一個程度就了解到
不如大家一起膨脹
不如我們跟宇宙一起加速膨脹
不如我們一起來到膨脹中的
這天黑的足球場
也有彈簧
也有幾何
也有海鷗
The Nightbound Soccer Field
Isn’t it true the universe is expanding?
Distant galaxies race furiously away from us
But I too have been expanding for a long, long time
When you expand to a certain point you come to realize
It would be better if everybody expanded together
Better yet if we expanded in the same headlong way as the universe itself
Better yet if we arrived together
At this nightbound soccer field at the heart of the expansion
Where there are springs as well
And geometries
And seagulls
彈不膩蕭邦
常常我想著這些累積的動作和言語
會把我們帶到哪裏去
要到哪裏哪個時候我們才會忽然明白
我們早就已經來到另一回事
和另一個地方
你知道事情常常
沒有一個形狀
除非你能找到一個容器
或者像這樣
重力
槓桿
彈簧
八十八個琴鍵
彈不膩
蕭邦
Never Weary of Playing Chopin
I often get to thinking about these words and actions that keep piling up
And where will they take us
And where and when will it suddenly dawn upon us
We’ve long since arrived at a whole other thing
In a whole other place
You know things often
Have no shape or form
Unless you find a container to put them in
Or otherwise like
Gravity
Hammers
Strings
And eighty-eight piano keys
Never weary of playing
Chopin
