Time with Suffixes - Ya Lijuan / 崖丽娟

Ya Lijuan / 崖丽娟




Time with Suffixes

(Translated by Zhou Wenbiao)

A rose, a love story
Which one will last longer
I asked the moon, and it shyly hid itself behind the clouds
The true image in the mirror is always reversed

Time has suffixes
Such as wrinkles, black hair turning white
Harf a wooden comb held in her palm
teeth broken. Or the rouge on the makeup table
losing its color gradually

Lower my head towards the rose withered
And towards the suffix forgotten by time
Love can be largely used to fabricate destiny
If you follow the right track, you will have half of your life in laughter
If I go the other way, I will have half of my life in tears

Ring the thinnest wall of life
Press the pounding heart
And I stored romance, affection and passion
Into the treasury of the soul

Roses have forgotten the process of blooming to withering
Restraint defeats action, emptiness claims longing
You’re on Heavenly Street, holding a lantern
While I am in the clouds, folding paper cranes




有后缀的时间

一枝玫瑰花，一段爱情
哪一样会更为长久
问月亮，它羞得躲入云层
镜子里真实影象，总是相反

时间都有后缀
比如皱纹，比如青丝变白发
比如握在她手心的半把木梳
断了齿。又比如
妆台胭脂，渐失颜色

低头向那枝枯萎的玫瑰
也向被时间遗忘的后缀
爱情，尽可用来虚构命运
你正用，半生的笑
我反用，半生的哭

敲响生命最薄的那堵墙壁
按压奔突狂跳的心脏
我将浪漫，深情，热烈
储存进心灵的金库

玫瑰花忘记绽放到枯萎的过程
矜持击败行动，虚无认领思念
你在天街，打着灯笼
我在云中，折叠纸鹤



*



Open a River

(Translated by Zhou Wenbiao)

Open a river, and the fish can breathe smoothly
Spitting out circles of bubbles
They are not content with going with the flow
So, they are trying to look for nutrients in the river
Trying to use the 7-second memory method
To chisel through the layers and peaks on both sides of the Jiajiang River
And trying to reproduce more offspring
The river has faithfully recorded their dreams
Clear, turbid, soothing, roaring
The road ahead is rugged, and obstructed by reefs

The fish swallowed the myriad flavors
They are tired
Open a river, so they would encounter infinite possibilities
Sometimes a large passenger liner may sail past them with a booming sound
Sometimes a small sailboat may follow them from a distance
Submarines or torpedoes pose a potential threat
The storm has broken the calm of the waterway
Whirlpools, harboring evil intentions
The night longs for navigation lights to indicate direction
In the rapids, the fish are changing their expressions, movements, and postures
Their gills open and close, and their scales gradually alter from soft to hard
Seeing this, the waterside ancient trees couldn’t help but feel concerned
And pinch a cold sweat for the fish

Open a river, even though the undercurrent is turbulent
Schools of fish would leap and splash in the waves, multiplying the earth




打开一条河

打开一条河，鱼儿呼吸流畅
吐出一圈圈气泡
它不满足于随波逐流
试着寻找河中养料
试着用七秒记忆
凿穿夹江两岸的层峦叠嶂
试着繁殖更多后代
河水忠实记录下它的梦想
清澈、混浊、舒缓、咆哮
前路崎岖，暗礁阻遏
鱼儿吞咽下滋味万般
它累了

打开一条河，遇到无限可能
有时身旁突突驶过大客轮
有时身后远远跟着小帆船
潜艇或鱼雷会造成潜在威胁
暴风雨打破航道平静
漩涡，心怀鬼胎
夜幕渴望航标灯指明方向
激流中，鱼儿变换表情、动作、姿态
鱼鳃一张一合，鱼鳞渐次由软变硬
依水而居的古树生出闲心
替它们，捏一把冷汗

打开一条河，纵然暗流湍急
鱼群踏浪飞花，繁衍后代



***

Ya Lijuan, a female poet and critic. Member of the Chinese Writers Association and a director of the Shanghai Writers Association. She has published four poetry collections: Time with Suffixes (2025), Fish that Can Think (2021), The Endless River (2020), and The Unfinished Journey (2019), as well as a collection of critical essays Interviews with Contemporary Chinese Poets (2025). She has also authored and published over 10 historical and cultural books as a scholar of literature and a veteran media professional. She began to publish her works in 1985. Her poems, interviews with poets and poetry critiques have been published in literary magazines such as “Writer”, “Poetry Magazine”, “Star Poetry Journal”, “Contemporary Poetry”, “Poetry Selection”, “Poetry Tide”, “Yangtze River Poetry Journal”, “New Literature Review” and “Ethnic Literature”. Her poetry works have been included in “China’s Outstanding Poetry of the Year”, “Selected Chinese Poetry”, “Selected Poems of Chinese Female Poets”, “Annual Collection of Chinese Minority Poetry” and other publications. Time with Suffixes won the Outstanding Poetry Collection Award of the Fifth China Annual New Poetry Award, Fish that Can Think received the Outstanding Work Award from the Shanghai Writers Association, and The Unfinished Journey received literary and artistic funding from the Shanghai Cultural Development Foundation. After its publication, Interviews with Contemporary Chinese Poets received a great response from the public and was hailed as a “phenomenal” work that combines academic and historical values. This work is an extremely valuable historical document and an important foundational literature for studying the creative achievements of contemporary Chinese poets.


崖丽娟，诗人，评论家。中国作家协会会员，上海作 家协会理事。出版诗集《有后缀的时间》（2025 年）、《会 思考的鱼》（2021 年）、《无尽之河》（2020 年）、《未 竟之旅》（2019 年），以及评论集《中国当代诗人访谈录》（2025 年）。曾作为文史学者、资深媒体人，编著出版十 余部文史书籍。1985 年开始发表作品，在《作家》《诗刊》《星星诗刊》《当代·诗歌》《诗选刊》《诗潮》《扬子江诗刊》《新文学评论》《民族文学》等文学刊物发表诗歌、诗人访谈，诗歌评论。诗歌作品入选《中国年度优秀诗歌》《中国诗歌精选》《中国 女诗人诗选》《中国少数民族诗歌年选》等。《有后缀的时间》获第五届中国年度新诗奖“优秀诗集奖”，《会思考的鱼》获上海市作家协会“优秀作品奖“，《未竟之旅》获上海市文化发展基金会文学艺术资助。《中 国当代诗人访谈录》问世后社会反响热烈，被誉为一部集 学术性与史料性于一体的“现象级”作品，该著具有极为 珍贵的史料价值，是研究中国当代诗人创作成就的重要基 础性文献。