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A corner the moon can’t reach: Two poems by Yau Ching, translated by Chenxin Jiang

不要以為 / 八八十月 過了還會回來 / 除非有十一月 || don’t assume that / October ‘88 will ever return / except in November

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一個在等候的人跟一個在轉身的人
跟一個在戀愛中的人
本質上是一樣

我躺在床上想像妳的轉身
妳的心頁躺在鍋上斯斯響
一種墮的聲音卻被煮熟了
我指我的

我躺在床上想像
妳想像
等待我心這頁
呈金黃
香脆而不墮
如炸魚薯條

我們知道如何嗎
我們敢嗎
我們看見
敢不跟心押韻嗎

當我們忍受從那高處墜落
太高
太多心已然於葉間
於妳我腳下

一片葉輾轉
我們跌墮
於一片叫做自由的心上


Turning a leaf

Someone waiting and someone turning
and someone in love
are the same on the inside

I lie in bed imagining you turning
pages of your heart lie sizzling in a pan
there’s a falling sound it’s cooked through
I mean mine

I lie in bed imagining
you imagining
waiting for my heart this page
is yellowing
crispy and not falling
just like fish and chips

Don’t we know how
Don’t we dare
Don’t we see
Doesn’t brave rhyme with love?

When we confront a fall from a high place
too high
too many hearts lie among the leaves
under our feet

A leaf turns over
we fall
upon a leaf of the heart called freedom



十月

一九八八年     不要以為
八八十月    過了還會回來
除非有十一月

九月

駱駝上的搖鈴
剛剛鎖住你的銀鍊
一隻耳環的心情
拍打床褥的聲音
有床單的眼睛閤上    別轉整塊臉
你退到月光照不到的角落
不要看見愚蠢的九月

八月

為了各樣平白並不愚蠢的理由
需要控制
一如其他月份


October

1988    don’t assume that
October ‘88     will ever return
except in November

September

the camel’s bell
has just clasped your necklace
the mood of an earring
the sound of someone beating a mattress
the eyes with a mattress are closing                   don’t turn your whole face
you’ve retreated to a corner the moon can’t reach
don’t look at dopey September

August

For all kinds of mundane and not at all dopey reasons
it has to be controlled
like the other months