Death of a Butterfly - Tian Yuan / 田 原

Tian Yuan / 田 原




Death of a Butterfly

In glorious autumn sunshine
My busy steps were brought up short
By a butterfly I nearly crushed underfoot
At first I thought she was resting by the road
I bent down for a look
Only to find her breath had ceased

She must have died only moments before
Her two antennae still wavered in the wind
Her fine legs still had strength to grip the ground
Sunlight shone straight through her dark-lensed eyes
Her spotted wings refracted a forlorn deathly color
Her beauty lay in a serenity
More complete than when she lived

Her death made me think of beautiful words
But no beautiful words could describe her death
Without thinking I took her in my fingers
And put her on the lawn, where people aren’t allowed
This burial was most fitting for her

I will never forget that patch of grass
On the east-west street before the Station
At the first crossing, beneath a high-voltage pole

(Translated by Denis Mair)




蝴蝶之死

一个阳光明媚的晚秋
突然让我在午后收拢住匆匆脚步的
是路边差一点被我一脚踩在脚下的蝴蝶
起初，我以为她是在歇息翅膀
等我蹲下细瞧
才知道她已绝了呼吸

她一定是刚死不久
头上的两根长须还在随风轻摇
细长的腿还保留有抓紧大地的力量
阳光穿透她戴着墨镜的眼
斑斓的翅膀折射出凄凉的死亡之光
死去的蝴蝶是美丽的
她的美丽在于
死了比活着时还显得安详

她的死让我想起许多美丽的词句
但什么样的词句都无法描绘出她的死亡
我下意识地
用手指把蝴蝶小心地捏起
放进禁止入内的人工草坪上
这可能是对她最好的埋葬

那块草坪我永远不会淡忘
在站前东西大马路的第一个十字路口
一根高压电杆旁




***



Tian Yuan was born in 1965 in Henan Province in China. Earned his doctorate in Japanese Literature from Ritsumeikan University. Currently teaches at Josai International University. His main publications include the Chinese volumes Selected Poems of Tian Yuan and A Snake in Dreams; the Chinese- English bilingual volume Beijing-Tokyo Poems Composition, and in Japanese, Thus the Shore Was Born, Memory in Stone, A Snake in Dreams, Selected Poems of Tian Yuan. His translated volumes include Selected Poems of Tanikawa Shuntarō (published in 16 volumes in Chinese), Selected Poems of Tsutsumi Seiji, Selected Poems of Takahashi Mutsuo, Complete Works of Kaneko Misuzu, etc. He has edited volumes such as Tanikawa Shuntarō: Selected Poems: Volumes 1-4 (published by Shūeisha Bunko), his doctoral dissertation, Theorizing Tanikawa Shuntarō (published by Iwanami Shoten), and others. In 2001, he was awarded the first Foreign Student Poetry Prize, and in 2010 he was awarded the 60th annual Mr. H Award. In 2013, he received the 10th annual Shanghai Literature Award. In 2015, Overseas Chinese Poets Award. In 2017, he received the 1st annual Taiwan Pacific Translation Award. His works have also been published in Mongolian and Korean translation.


田原，旅日诗人、日本文学博士、翻译家。1965 年生于河南漯河，1990 年代初赴日留学，现任教于日本城西国际大学。出版有汉语、日语诗集《梦的标点——田原年代诗选》《田原诗集》《岸的诞生》《石头的记忆》等十余册。先后在中国、日本、美国，以及中国台湾地区获得过华文、日文诗歌奖。主编有日文版《谷川俊太郎诗选集》（六卷）， 在中国、新加坡、以及中国香港地区、中国台湾地区翻译出版有《谷川俊太郎诗歌总集》（二十二册）、《异邦人—— 辻井乔诗选》、《让我们继续沉默的旅行——高桥睦郎诗选》、《金子美铃全集》、《松尾芭蕉俳句选》、《人间失格》等。出版日语文论集《谷川俊太郎论》( 岩波书店）等。作品先后被翻译成英、德、西班牙、法、意、土耳其、阿拉伯、芬兰、葡萄牙语等十多种语言，并出版有英语、韩语、蒙古语版诗选集。