Thinking beyond My Power - Ye Yanbin / 叶延滨

Ye Yanbin / 叶延滨




Thinking beyond My Power

I think it’s small, too small to be seen
Even at the edge of the cell wall.
Though small the virus,
It made the city of high buildings
Become dumb.
Without a single shot
It took me and put me in its cell.

It passed by the moment I think of it.
I really don’t know how small
The seed of disaster is.

I think it’s big, as big as the big plateau,
Like a giant peak into the cloud,
Like cloud pine and white birch,
Under which, Confucius taught water singing.
The singing water is flowing
And flying in the air,
As if it were a string in the sky.

It passed by the moment I think of it.
I really don’t know how broad
The bosom of heaven and earth should be.

(Translated by Zhou Wenbiao)





想到想不到

想小，小到边缘细胞壁都没有
小病毒的小
让这座高楼如林的城市
变成了哑巴
不用一枪一弹拿下
拿下我，囚在这间斗室

想到也就经过了
真的不知道灾难的种子
那东西多小

想大，大到像巨峰入云耸立
大高原的大
像孔夫子一样的云松白桦
教会水歌唱
唱着歌的水哗哗地流
悬空飞，天地一架琴弦

想到也就经过了
真的不知道天地的胸怀
该有多么大





***




Ye Yanbin, a contemporary writer, now the director of Poetry Committee of China Writers’ Association and member of the 6th, 7th and 8th National Committee of China Writers’ Association. In 1978, he was admitted to the Department of Journalism of Beijing Broadcasting University. In 1980, he published his poem “Adoptive Mother” during his college years and won “The Poetry Award” of China Writers’ Association (1979–1980), and then admitted as a member of China Writers’ Association. After graduation in 1982, he worked successively as an editor, deputy editor-in-chief and editor-in-chief of “Star Poetry” magazine for 12 years. In 1993, he was appraised as full senior editor and awarded the special allowance of the government. In 1994, he was transferred by the Ministry of Personnel of the People’s Republic of China to the Department of Literature and Art, Beijing Broadcasting University as the director of the department. In 1995, he was transferred to the “Journal of Poetry” magazine run by China Writers’ Association as deputy editor-in-chief, and then executive deputy editor-in-chief and editor in chief. In 2012, he served as the deputy director of Poetry Working Committee of China Writers’ Association. In 2016, he served as the director of Poetry Committee of China Writers’ Association.
Up to now, his 52 literature monographs have been published, among them, collective works include “Revelation of Life” (1988), “Sadness in Autumn” (1993), “22 Rules of Poetry” (1993), “Listen to the Wind and Count the Geese” (1996), “Daydream” (1998), “Eternal Face” (1998), “Joking about Spiritual Tour” (1998), “Ye Yanbin’s Prose” (1999), “Dream and Apple” (1999), “Feeling on the Road” (2000), “Savings of Sentiment” (2000), “Shadows Passing By” (2000), “Poems and Thoughts” (2001), “Black and White Building Blocks” (2001), “From Which End Do You Eat Bananas” (2002), “Ye Yanbin’s Essays” (2002), “Candlelight and Night Sound (2003), “Ye Yanbin’s Proses” (2004), “Ye Yanbin’s Collected Works (four volumes)” (2004), “Reasons of the World” (2008), “The Scenery Is Where You Look Back” (2011), “China’s Centennial Essays: Ye Yanbin Volume” (2013), “Heaven Knows” (2014), “Consulting Mark Twain” (2015), “Haunted by Dreams” (2016), “Grass Color, Sounds of Nature” (2017), “Moon Shadow, the Station of Youth” (2017), “Previous Life Is a Bird” (2018), etc. Collections of poems include “There Are No Regrets” (1983), “Duet” (1985), “Milky Spring” (1986), “Heart’s Meditation” (1986), “Prisoner and Dove” (1988), “Selected Poems of Ye Yanbin” (1988), “Between Heaven and Hell” (1989), “Honeymoon Mottoes” (1989), “Urban Romance” (1989), “The Song of Blood” (1991), “The Temptation of Forbidden Fruit” (1992), “Today’s Nine Odes” (1992), “Walking with You” (1993), “Rose Flame” (1994), “21st Century Impression” (1997), “Beautiful Moment” (1999), “Vicissitudes” (2002), “Ye Yanbin’s Short Poetry Anthology” (2003), “The Annual-rings of Poetry” (2008), “Time Portrait (Collection of Poems and Essays)” (2008), “River behind Time” (2010), “Selected Works of Ye Yanbin” (2011), “The Rock that Wants to Fly” (2018), “The Flight of Swan” (2019), etc.
Since 1980, his works have been collected in more than 550 kinds of anthologies as well as college and secondary school textbooks both at home and abroad. Some of his works were translated into English, French, Russian, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Polish and Macedonian. “Adoptive Mother”, a representative poem, won “The Poetry Award for Outstanding Young and Middle-aged Poets” of Chinese Writers’ Association (1979–1980). The collection of poems “Duet” won “The Third New Poetry Collection Award” of China Writers’ Association (1985–1986). Other poems and essays have won more than 50 literary awards such as “The Sichuan Literature Prize”, “October Literature Award” and “Youth Literature Award”.


叶延滨，当代作家。现为中国作家协会诗歌委员会主任。中国作家协会第六、七、八届全国委员会委员。1978 年考入北京广播学院新闻系文编专业，1980 年在校期间发表诗作《干妈》获中国作家协会（1979-1980）诗歌奖，读大学期间被吸收为中国作家协会会员。1982 年毕业后在《星星诗刊》任编辑，副主编、主编共十二年。1993 年评为正编审并首批获国务院政府特殊津贴。1994 年由国家人事部调入北京广播学院任文学艺术系主任。1995 年调到中国作家协会《诗刊》杂志社任副主编、常务副主编、主编。2012 年担任中国作家协会诗歌工作委员会副主任。2016 年担任中国作协诗歌委员会主任。
迄今已出版个人文学专著五十二部，其中文集有《生活启示录》（1988）、《秋天的伤感》（1993）、《二十二条诗规》（1993）、《听 风数雁》（1996）、《白日画梦》（1998）、《永恒之脸》（1998）、《戏说神游》（1998）、《叶延滨散文》（1999）、《梦与苹果》(1999）、《路上的感觉》（2000）、《储蓄情感》(2000)、《擦肩而过的影子》（2000）、《诗与思》（2001）、《黑白积木》（2001）、《从哪一头吃香蕉》（2002）、《叶延滨随笔》（2002）、《烛光与夜声》（2003）、《叶延滨杂文》（2004）、《叶延滨文集（四卷集）》（2004）、《世界的理由》（2008）、《回首皆风景》（2011）、《中国百年杂文·叶延滨卷》（2013）、《天知道》（2014）、《请教马克．吐温先生》（2015）、（魂牵梦绕》（2016）、《草色 天籁》（2017）、《月影。青春的驿站》（2017）、《前世是鸟》（2018）等。诗集有《不悔》（1983)、《二重奏》（1985）、《乳泉》（1986）、《心的沉吟》（1986）、《囚徒与白鸽》（1988）、《叶延滨诗选》（1988）、《在天堂与地狱之间》（1989）、《蜜月箴言》（1989）、《都市罗曼史》（1989）、《血液的歌声》（1991）、《禁果的诱惑》（1992）、《现代九歌》（1992）、《与你同行》（1993）、《玫瑰火焰》（1994）、《二十一世纪印象》（1997）、《美丽瞬间》（1999）、《沧桑》（2002）、《叶延滨短诗选》（2003）、《年轮诗章》（2008）、《时间画像（诗文集）》（2008）、《时间背后的河流》（2010）、《叶延滨自选集》（2011）、《想飞的山岩》（2018）、《天鹅飞翔》（2019）等。作品自1980 年以来先后被收入国内外五百五十余种选集以及大学、中学课本。部分作品被译为英、法、俄、意、德、日、韩、罗马尼亚、波兰、马其顿文字。代表诗作《干妈》获中国作家协会优秀中青年诗人诗歌奖（1979—1980），诗集《二重奏》获中国作家协会第三届新诗集奖（1985—1986），其余还有诗歌、散文、杂文分别先后获四川文学奖、十月文学奖、青年文学奖等五十余种文学奖项。