Dai Weina translated from Chinese by Liang Yujing
Misfortune of the New Moon
A Letter on Behalf of the Covid-19 Whistleblower Li Wenliang’s Wife
Darling,
the bed you left at
midnight sags like a crescent.
Huddling in this low-lying moon,
I stroke your traces as if seeking truth,
sniffing your scent like I search for lies.
Unable to find your heart, I touch a pair
of fluffy, dying lungs. Disease is the only gift
you have left me. A rotten moon with your odor.
That’s the lowest water—it submerges my waist.
My hips and shoulders, left in the air without you, envy
the variable seasons. The addicted moon, an oxygenless place.
On your body, I used to gasp desperately as if calling for help.
I raised the national flag from toe to throat, repeating I love you,
and ate bats, sucking the lies soaked with holy water and corpse oil.
But now, the moon will evaporate. Just like that, some warriors have
gently died in a strange land, on their lovers’ bodies. Their tombstones
stand on the back side of the moon, becoming my rough pilgrimage.
Your forceful pubis keeps reaching wherever my fate goes.
But my dear, I am still far less skillful than you
—as far as betrayal is concerned.
I try to retrieve a city as if extinguishing
a lust fire. Before our final doom, I still
want to see the full moon again.
Hush! Did you hear that?
The moon in the sky
is coughing!
新月之灾
——代李妻书
亲爱的，
你子时离开的
床榻凹下一轮新月
我蜷进这低洼里的月亮
苦求真理般抚摩你的痕迹
追索谎言似的嗅觅你的气息
摸不到你的心，竟触着柳絮状
正在坏死的肺。疾病是你留给我
唯一的礼物。腐化的月亮杂着体味
那是最低处的水——它没过我的腰肢
肩与臀被甩在你缺席的空气，它们嫉妒
四季无常。迷溺的月亮，没有氧气的地方
我曾在你躯体上努力呼吸，犹如呼救一般
从脚趾到喉头一遍遍升起国旗，重复我爱你
吞吃蝙蝠，吸吮恩赐圣水和浸染尸油的谎言
而现在，月亮就要蒸发。一些勇士就那样
轻柔地客死他乡，客死在她们身上。墓碑
埋在月亮的背面，成为我朝圣的崎途
你有力的耻骨遍及命运所到之处
可亲爱的，我还远不如你娴熟
——在背叛你这件事上。
扑灭一场欲火般去挽回
一座城池。毁灭之前
我还想要一次满月
嘘，听见了吗
天上的月亮
咳嗽了！
Small Sunset
Just before the late spring fades away,
he invites me to enjoy a small sunset—
it would be like, I guess, the smallest idea flashing through my mind.
I fear a swallow from the old temple will peck it away.
We hurry into the room
with a hole in its ceiling:
a thin, square skylight.
Hey, there’s a slice of sky, for you.
The walls brighten as our temperature rises.
The sky keeps changing its colour every second we gaze at each other.
Red flames begin to wash away the dense blue:
now an azure sea, now an orange, lava-like sky.
This small, square sky-frame
captures the floating clouds.
Swallows dart like raptors into an antique chest.
At this moment, if a raindrop falls, it falls into my heart.
In despair, we make telescopes with our hands.
When will the small sun set into our skylight?
Looking through the smaller circle of his fingers,
I almost forget the sky was blue,
or perhaps it was never so.
The skylight suddenly turns off—
a large, black electronic screen.
Someone played the blue sky!
Now I truly believe
some dreams have never existed.
But fret not, my dear.
Let’s
create one
from this moment on.
小落日
即将消散的晚春
他邀我赏小落日——
我猜，它会像心尖上滑过的最小念头
唯恐古寺燕子将它衔走
我们疾疾钻入房间
屋顶开孔
薄薄的正方形 天窗
嗨，这儿有片天，想送你
四壁的光亮随我们体温上升
多对视一秒，天色都会改变
赤焰将浓浓的蓝色清洗，
时而碧海，时而熔岩般的橙天
这一小方天空画框
框住了游云，
燕子亦如冲进古匣的猛禽，
若此刻落下一粒雨，必能撞破我的心
我们绝望地徒手比划望远镜
小落日何时才肯落入我天井？
从他更小的指圈望去
我几乎忘记天原是蓝色
——兴许从来也不是。
天窗这时熄灭，
一大块黑色电子屏——
有人播放了蓝天！
现在我可以确信：
有些理想从未存在
但不要紧 亲爱的
我们
创造它
从现在起
