Crack - Hu Xian / 胡 弦
From things once whole it starts / Makes the unprepared mind / Suddenly have this coast, and that. /
Hu Xian / 胡 弦
Crack
From things once whole it starts
Makes the unprepared mind
Suddenly have this coast, and that.
And so, there are those who build bridges
Those who build boats.....
An unknown spirit controls this all, and travels
Cultivating talented sailors. Up until,
Things break off.
Two separate halves split
by a patch of white space.
Looks like, each half is a whole;
Looks like, there is no crack.
(Translated by Han Rende)
裂 隙
从完整的事物，它开始，
让一颗没有准备的心，
突然有了此岸与彼岸。
于是，有人学习造桥，
有人学习造船……
一个未知的幽灵在掌控这一切，并为远航
培养出了出色的水手。直到
它彻底裂开，
互不相干的两半被一段
空白隔开。
看上去，各自完整；
看上去，裂隙仿佛已不在场。
*
Wind
Perhaps you’ll never know
how it is the wind blows.
When one journeys far, there’s no news
and only the wind whispers. When one
comes back from afar
this has already become a time out of reach.
Perhaps you’ll never know,
wind both carries along and leaves behind.
Anything it comes across, it’s already
met with its inherent passion.
Wind blows past rocks, weighing their silence;
flows over water, that impregnable surface.
Sometimes, you think it’s all gone by,
but a breeze builds, and all come and gone
returns in the wind.
Sometimes there’s no wind. Quiescent
like a breath in the face of nothingness.
Sometimes, wind blows, blows, then leaves
like a deep rooted wound.
After a passing gale, docks and boats
seem the only reminder of our world.
But you still don’t know, wind
is a constructed secret
and an intangible entity.
(Translated by Han Rende)
风
也许你永远不会知道，
风在怎样经过。
当一个人远去，没有音讯，
只有风声。当一个人
从远方归来，
已变成一段难以把握的感情。
也许你永远不会知道，
风在带走，还是在放下，
穿过某个事件时，它曾怎样
与那中间的火苗相遇。
它吹着岩石，推敲其沉默；
吹着水，吹着患有不孕症的平面。
有时，你以为一切都过去了，
但风在吹，过往的一切
又在风中重来。
有时没有风，寂静
像一种面向虚无的呼吸。
有时，风吹着吹着就散了，
像一种根深蒂固的伤感。
有时大风过后，码头和船
像剩在世间之物。
但你仍然不知道，风
是个虚构的秘密，
还是某种无法探究的实体。
***
Hu Xian is a renowned poet and essayist, born in 1966 in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province. He has worked as a teacher, journalist, and cultural center writer. He currently serves as Vice President of the Poetry Institute of China, Vice Chairman of the Writers’ Association of Jiangsu Province, and Editor-in-Chief of Yangtze River Poetry Journal. His published poetry anthologies include Shower (2011), Hourglass (2016), Empty Stairs (2017), Stone Sculpture and Butterfly (bilingual Chinese-English, 2020), Constellations (bilingual Chinese-Spanish, 2020), A Garden Lost and Found (2021), Insects in Amber (Spanish, 2021), Prelude to Water Melody (2023), and Guessing a Tree (2024). Hu has won the Top Ten Young Poets in the New Century Prize (2009), the Xu Zhimo Poetry Award (2012), Rougang Poetry Prize (2014), Poetry Magazine Annual Poetry Award (2014), Chinese Poetry Ranking Annual Award (2015), Tencent Academy Literature Award (2016), Huadi Literature Year Poets Award (2017), Purple Mountain Literature Award (2017), “Stars” Poet of the Year Award (2018), “October” Literature Award (2018), Lu Xun Literature Award (2018), “Zhongshan” Literature Award (2021), “Caitang” Poetry Award Grand Prize (2022), Prize of Silver Willow during Cambridge Poetry Festival (2022), and Ocean Poetry Achievement Award (2024), among others. He currently resides in Nanjing.
胡弦，著名诗人、散文家，中国诗歌学会副会长，江 苏省作家协会副主席，《扬子江诗刊》主编。著有诗集《沙 漏》《定风波》《葱茏》《水调歌头》《猜中一棵树》，散 文集《永远无法返乡的人》《风的嘴唇》等。有英语、西班 牙语诗集出版，曾获《诗刊》《星星》《钟山》等刊年度诗 歌奖、花地文学榜诗歌奖、十月文学奖、草堂诗歌奖、英国 剑桥大学银柳叶诗歌奖，鲁迅文学奖等。
