Sad Song - Gu He / 谷 禾

Gu He / 谷 禾





What You See and Hear During the Day

I just sit down,
Smoke a piece of paper cigarette slowly.
I just need to get up from the sedentary darkness and raise my hand
to switch on the world,
And clearly Hear a "pop" sound.

(Translated by Fan Jun)




日知录

我只要坐下来，
把一支纸烟，慢慢地抽完。
我只要从久坐的黑暗里起身，一抬手揿亮世界的开关，
并且清晰地
听见“啪”的一声脆响。



*



In Lianghong Wetland

Early spring, the sun still imparts a touch of cold,
Callery pears are sprouting white buds,
wild reeds make waves in the wind.
All you can see is gray, as if the world is stifled by fate.

The sound of broken bones,
river ice cracking, while the rapeseeds glow by the water.
The rippling water reflects on its mirror
a new season that is foundering to take off.

So only love is not enough, it needs to take a leap,
and blind trust. No use to envy the eternal harmony between the clouds and the flowers.

This land so vast, the sky so low, you say it's the earth holding the water,
or is it the other way around? I like
this scraggly, lazy early spring, in-between boats paddling,
dandelions and egrets take off,
retrieving old feathers and the key to regroup.

The river spreads like veins, reaching every part of the earth,
it will trickle through the spring
so as to retain bees, butterflies, and other flower robbers.
And I shall hold on to my secret craftsmanship
in keeping a poem self-contained and uncopiable.

I know, time will not lose heart
in the succession of seasons,
the earth dreams of flames and new bamboo shoots, it also moves the wetland
to where the river rests.

(Translated by Fan Jun)




在梁鸿湿地

早春的阳光带着微薄寒凉，
豆梨才露出白牙，
风中俯仰的野芦苇
灰茫茫一片，仿佛被命运扼紧了脖子。

骨头的断折之声传来，
如冰茬碎裂，而水边油菜花金黄。
在细浪的镜子里，
季节刚迈开趔趄的脚步。

所以仅有爱还不够，还要跑起来，
还要一叶障目，无视白云与黄花举案齐眉。
野旷天低，你说是泥土涵养了水分，
还是相反？我喜欢
这散漫凌乱的早春，从桨声的裂隙里，
蒲公英和白鹭飞起，
从残雪下取回了羽毛和翔集的钥匙。

河水如脉络，遍布大地全身，
要蹀躞流过春天，
才能挽留蜜蜂、蝴蝶、更多的采花盗。
我还有秘密的手艺，
以保持一首诗的完整性与不可模仿。

我知道的，时间不会怅惘失神，
在季节的轮回里，
泥土梦见火焰和新生的青竹，也把这湿地
带向江水停歇之处。



*



Sad Song

Sadness always comes without being invited. It passes through noon
Midnight, respite after a meal, sleeplessness in the middle of the night
Sometimes in the misty mirror
From the more white hairs (such as weeds)
From the clear eyes of little animals, the bread crumbs thrown away by children
From the chatting with the mother on the phone
Also a separate trance, the sun stretches all the wrinkles
Suddenly felt warm, and my grief is pervading
Then it became a big river of light and shadow
No need to be sad, one is born to die after all
Knowing that living is not easy, love is harder
A happy old sugar paper, it's tasteless after being licked
His sorrow is like a fire, retrograding in the rain of the crowd

(Translated by Fan Jun)




悲伤曲

悲伤总是不请自来。它穿过正午
子夜，饭后的小憩，后半夜的耿耿难眠
有时也从水雾综绕的镜子里
从越拔越多的白发（如野草）丛莽
从小动物清澈的眼底，孩子扔掉的面包屑
从电话另一端老母亲的唠叨里
有时也独自恍惚，阳光舒展了所有皱褶
心里忽地一热，悲伤就浸漫开来
继而流滴成了光与影的大河
有什么可悲伤呢？一个人向死而生
深知活着不易，爱更难
快乐的旧糖纸，舔一口就无味了
他的悲伤像一把火，逆行在人群的雨水里



***



Gu He was born in Henan, China in 1967. He started to write and publish since the 1990s. His well-known published collections of poetry include Sunshine of the Falling Snow, The Sea Disagrees, Flowers in Si¬lence, Sitting in the Truck to Jerusalem, The Book of the North Canal, Ev¬ery Morning of the World, and collections of proses, Black Cotton, White Cotton. Many of his published works have been translated into different languages, such as English, Russian, Japanese, Spanish and Korean.


谷禾，1967 年出生于河南。20 世纪90 年代初开始写作并发表作品，著有诗集《飘雪的阳光》《大海不这么想》《鲜花宁静》《坐一辆拖拉机去耶路撒冷》《北运河书》《世界的每一个早晨》和散文集《黑棉花，白棉花》等多种，部分作品被译成英、俄、日、韩、西班牙等多种语言。