停  电 / Power Outage

Chinese

突然停电,使我确信 / 我生活在一个发展中国家
一个有人在月光下读书的国家 / 一个废除了科考考试的国家
突然停电,使我听见 / 小楼上的风铃声、猫的脚步声
远方转动的马达嘎然而止 / 身边的电池收音机还在歌唱
只要一停电,时间便迅速回转: / 小饭铺里点起了蜡烛
那吞吃着乌鸦肉的胖子发现 / 树杈上的乌鸦越聚越多
而眼前这一片漆黑呀 / 多像海水澎湃的子宫
一位母亲把自己吊上房梁 / 每一个房间都有其特殊的气味
停电。我摸到一只拖鞋 / 但我叨念着:“火柴,别藏了!”
在烛光里,我看到自己 / 巨大、无言的影子投映在墙上
1992. 12

English Translation

A sudden power outage, and I’m convinced
I live in a developing nation

a nation where people read by moonlight
a nation that abolished imperial exams

a sudden power outage, and I hear
wind chimes and a cat’s footbeats upstairs

in the distance an engine stops with a thud
the battery-powered radio beside me still singing

once the power’s out, time turns back quickly:
candles light up the eateries

the fat kid gobbling on crow meat notices
crows gathering on tree limbs

and the pitch blackness before me
just like a seaswell womb

a mother hangs herself from rafters
each room its own special odor

Power Outage. I touch a slipper
but mutter: “Quit hiding, matches!”

In the candlelight, I see my own
great big wordless shadow cast upon the wall

December 1992

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