When orderly herds of horses pass along the broad road,
No need to envy, and even take the lead to cheer for them.
Shuxian, born Feng Shuxian, has published poems and essays in numerous literary journals including Poetry Periodical, Stars, Chinese Poetry, Chinese Campus Literature, Beijing Literature, Yangtze River Poetry Journal, Poetry Monthly and Feitian. He has authored four poetry collections such as Fleeing Up a Tree and Ode to Silver, and edited multiple volumes of Selected Poems of Gansu Youth Poetry Association. Currently, he is a 2023-grade doctoral candidate majoring in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature at the College of Liberal Arts, Northwest Normal University.
树贤，原名冯树贤，在《诗刊》《星星》《中国诗歌》《中国校园文学》《北京文学》《扬子江》《诗歌月刊》《飞天》等刊物发表作品，著有诗集《逃上一棵树》《白银之歌》等4部，主编《甘肃青年诗会诗选》多卷。现为西北师范大学文学院2023级中国现当代文学博士研究生。
Translated by Ma Yongbo
Be a Quiet Donkey
Dwelling long beneath the Southern Hills, I no longer care
How many reins bind the glory of fine steeds!
There are carts for me to pull, fields for me to till in this world.
I need no tight saddles on my back,
Nor strive to vie with anyone when daily toil is done,
I lie down by the field ridges and doze off.
I hide myself in ordinariness, keeping close to my shadow on the ground,
Alongside green grass and free ease, keeping close to
My small yet bright world, sometimes
When orderly herds of horses pass along the broad road,
No need to envy, and even take the lead to cheer for them.
做一头安静的毛驴
久居南山下，就不想
骏马荣光的背后究竟有几根缰绳了
这世上有我拉的车，有我耕的地
我不用穿上那紧致的鞍具
不跟谁去竞争，做完手边的事
就卧在田埂旁打盹
把自己藏在平凡里，守着贴在地上的影子
以及青草和自在，守着
小而亮的世界，有时候
看见大道上整齐划一的马群路过，也不用
嫉妒，要带头为它们鼓鼓掌
***
Where Have You Gone, My Friend Who Tended Horses?
Years ago, you kept a horse, standing
On the threshing ground at dawn. You and your father
Cut fodder in the morning glow, the horse held its head high,
And when slanting sunlight streamed down,
It sparkled like splashing ripples in my eyes
—that was the first horse I ever saw.
Years later, I still long to shatter myself into pieces,
Let you mix me with starlight as fodder to feed it.
Then I could catch its warm breath in my palms.
Or let me turn into a tempered iron nail,
Clinging fast to it with unswerving devotion.
O my friend, I still muddle along in this mortal world,
Yet the horse has long vanished without a trace,
And you too have faded away among rolling hills.
Now and then, gazing at mountains, I recall your sturdy back,
And that early morning when you cut grass and fed the horse.
喂马的朋友你去了哪里？
多年前，你家有一匹马，站在
黎明的打麦场。你和你的父亲
在晨光下铡草料，那匹马把头
高高昂起，阳光斜斜泼过来的时候
在我的眼中溅起了水花儿
——那是我见过的第一匹马
多年后，我还是想把自己揉碎了
让你把我当成草料混在星辰里喂给它
如此我便能双手接住它温热的鼻吸
或者，就让我变成淬了火的铁钉吧
这般也能死心塌地地牢牢抱住它
朋友啊，如今我仍糊涂地活在人世
但那匹马早已不知所踪了，就连
你也消失在了群山之中
偶尔，我看到山，会想起你的脊背
会想起你曾铡草喂马的那个清晨
***
The Young Mother
Wind drifts from the valley,
Gently caressing the wooden dwellings of the Tibetan village.
Trees bow low in reverence,
Like endless chants and prayers repeated time and again.
Crowds prostrate themselves on lofty heights.
All is adrift, lost and languid,
A place filled with soft whispers.
A rider bearing a sword strides over on horseback.
The last yak to return lies prone before the fence.
It beholds a young mother nursing her child,
And sees another mother whose face is lined all over with wrinkles.
年轻的母亲
风从山谷吹来，慢慢抚摸藏寨的木头
树木弯腰行礼
如同一次次转动的吟诵祈祷
众人匍匐在在更高的高处
一切飘荡，迷失与瘫痪
悄声低语的场所
有人骑马带刀阔步而来
最后一个归来的牦牛横卧在栅栏前
他看见一个年轻的母亲哺育孩子
他看见另一个母亲的脸上堆满皱纹
***
Fruits on the White Tree
Gradually, I no longer wish to speak of you.
Traces you left in life are frosted over,
Fading thinner day by day, all sinking into haze.
Someone levelled the sheepfold and built a new house,
And no bleating of sheep echoes through the night anymore.
I wondered that day if you had turned into a star,
If your eyes once held light piercing through time and space.
Life is dim yet intense, and only you
Held the key murmuring of its fragility and vanity.
Beside the highway running through the village, you once
Roasted potatoes and pressed them into my hands, still burning hot.
I never knew that one day you would fly away like a peregrine falcon,
Gliding off to a place I could never reach.
All fruits in the world grow on white trees from the very start,
Yet fortune never lean to your side.
Now I return to Feng Family Garden,
Finding winters no longer so bitter cold.
Stars still linger high in the sky when I step out the door.
白树上的果子
慢慢地，我已经不再想提起你了
你生前的印记满是霜花
且越来越少，一切都在变得模糊
有人推平了羊圈盖起了新房
平日里，夜里再没有了羊叫
那天，我在想你会是一颗星星吗
你的眼睛有没有过穿透时空的光呢
为什么生命朦胧而强烈，只有你
悄声叨念生命脆弱虚无的钥匙
穿过村子的那条公路旁，你曾
烤熟了洋芋塞给我，我接住时还是烫的
那时我并不知道有天你会像只游隼般
倏忽而飞，滑向我找不到的地方
世间的果子打一开始就结在白树上
但幸运从未站在你这边
如今我回到冯家园子
发现冬天已经不那么冷了
我出门的时候星星还荡在空中
___________________
