Charcoal - Ji Zhenbang / 季振邦

Ji Zhenbang / 季振邦





Charcoal

After keeping warm
Someone has put out the bonfire
A pale smoke lingers
Some white ashes remain
Left behind is a stub of unburned branch
A charred piece of wood
Which the burning has created

Charcoal is not coal
Though they are both sons of the tree
Coal is fossilized tree buried in the ground
While charcoal is the tree residue reproduced in the fire
A rising phoenix once perched on the tree
Now the tree itself has become a phoenix too

Therefore, it cannot live without fire
As a tree cannot live without land
It is destined to perish in fire
As it glows red
All the pains and joys are released

Finally,
Its body is empty
Due to the excessive burn
Its soul disappears
Blowing in the wind
Its life is doomed
For a secondary combustion





炭

不知是谁在取暖过后
踩熄了篝火
留下一缕袅袅青烟
一摊灰烬
以及一截未燃尽的树枝
而他却不知道
已经进行了炭的创造

炭不是煤
虽然一样是树的儿子
煤没经过火的洗礼
炭在火中再生
树曾栖留过凤凰
现在自己也成了凤凰

因此，它已经离不开火了
正像树离不开大地
它注定要投入火
它痛苦而欢乐的爆裂着
让火苗幽幽地闪动着
坚实的身体
因燃烧而空虚下来
终于成了薄薄的灰烬
在风中扬弃、消失

它的生命
注定要做两次燃烧



***

Ji Zhenbang is a member of China Writers Association, director of China Poetry Society, and executive editor of "Shanghai Poets" Magazine, who has served as director of the Poetry Professional Committee of Shanghai Writers Association and editor of Supplement of "Jiefang Daily" for years. He published his first writing in 1969, major in poems and essays, including poems such as "Tomorrow", "Whitetip Clover", "Tonight Belongs to You"; essays such as "Modern Ridicule", "Who Can Chat with Me?", "In-door Walking Street", "Orchid Fingers", "Micro-life" , etc. Some of his writings were collected into the compiling of literature and many
anthologies. Some of his poems were published or issued for academic exchange in the United States, Canada, Singapore, South Korea, Serbia and the regions of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and collected by a textbook in New Zealand.
He has won the first prize of "Chinese Newspaper Supplement" and "Shanghai Literature" Award for many times. He used to be the chief editor of Poetry Series of "Shanghai Poet" and Large Selection of Chaohua of "Jiefang Daily" and reportages.


季振邦, 中国作家协会委员，中国诗歌学会理事,《上海诗人》杂志执行主编。曾任
多届上海作家协会诗歌专业委员会主任，曾长期编辑《解放日报》副刊。1969 年开始发表作品，主要进行诗歌与散文随笔创作。有诗集《明天》《三叶草》《今宵属于你》、散文随笔集《现代人调侃》《谁能与我同侃》《室内步行街》《美人指》《微生活》等出版。
作品被收入文学大系与多种选本。部分诗文在美国、加拿大、新加坡、韩国、塞尔维亚等国以及港澳台地区交流、发表，有诗歌在新西兰用作教材。多次获中国报纸副刊一等奖和《上海文学》奖。主编过《上海诗人》系列诗歌丛书、《解放日报》“朝花”大型文选以及报告文学集等。