I dare not imagine too much, I only want to

Be down-to-earth, to be a realist.

Three poems by Tan Yantong, a renowned scholar, writer, musician, calligrapher, and painter

Tan Yantong is a renowned scholar, writer, musician, calligrapher, and painter. He graduated from the College of Liberal Arts, Shandong University. He has worked as a literary editor for newspapers and periodicals such as Shandong Literature, Writers’ Newspaper, Contemporary Novels, Publishing Perspective, and Red Bean successively. Currently, he serves as the editor-in-chief of a certain magazine, the president of a certain literary and art research institute, the director of the editorial board of Human Sciences, and a specially invited artist of Chuiyang Calligraphy and Painting Academy. He is a member of the Chinese Writers Association. He began to publish poems, prose, novels, comments, reportages, songs, calligraphic works, and paintings since his middle school years. His works have been published in nearly 1,000 newspapers and periodicals at home and abroad, totaling more than 12 million characters. He has published 19 works in total, including poetry collections, prose collections, poetry criticism collections, and full-length novels. Some of his works have been translated into multiple languages such as English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Dutch, Polish, and Armenian. He has won more than 200 literary awards, music awards, and outstanding editor awards issued by the Chinese Writers Association, the Chinese Musicians Association, the editorial department of People’s Literature, the Guangxi government, etc. He has also been awarded titles such as “Top Ten Chinese Poets” selected by Poetry Tide and “The 5th Golden Ivy International Poetry Award” issued by the World Federation of Poetry Arts in Thailand.

谭延桐，著名学者、作家、音乐家、书画家，毕业于山东大学文学院，先后做过《山东文学》《作家报》《当代小说》《出版广角》《红豆》等报刊社的文学编辑，现为某杂志社总编辑、某文学艺术研究院院长、《人文科学》编委会主任、垂杨书画院特聘艺术家，系中国作家协会会员。中学时代开始发表诗歌、散文、小说、评论、报告文学、歌曲、书画等，散见于海内外近千家报刊，计1200余万字。著有诗集、散文集、诗论集、长篇小说共19部。部分作品被译为英、法、德、意、俄、荷、波兰语、亚美尼亚语等多种文字。曾获中国作家协会、中国音乐家协会、人民文学杂志社、广西政府等颁发的文学奖、音乐奖和优秀编辑奖200余项，并荣获《诗潮》评选的“十佳华语诗人”、世界诗歌艺术联合会在泰国颁布的“第五届金青藤国际诗歌奖”等。

Translated by Ma Yongbo

This word that has been through a hundred battles

It is like washing a piece of cloth over and over again

Just now, I’ve been bending my head, toiling away, washing a word

Washing it this way, washing it that way, all kinds of washing methods

I’ve used them all. Washing and washing, an hour

Has been washed away, just like those bubbles

That keep popping out of the soap

In a moment, they all vanish again

As long as the word remains, it’s enough, enough to make me

Keep washing it, even if

I rub my always hardworking hands raw, or even rub them to pieces

 

This word that has been through a hundred battles—I must wash it very clean

Because I plan to send it to a spotlessly clean essay

To carry out an important task. If, here

I’m only saying if—it really is hard to wash clean

It’s not that I’m not trying, but…

Lately, I often run into problems like “but…”

To save time, I won’t talk about it here

I’m too tired. Sometimes, I feel that way

 

Washing it again and again is naturally to use it well

So that it can play a greater role

At the thought of this—this “greater role”—I immediately

Yes, I hesitated, I faltered, I wandered, I wandered in confusion

For a moment, a fleeting moment

There was nothing but fog, more fog than the fog in Fog City

A wave of the hand, and the fog is gone

This matter only happened in my imagination

I dare not imagine too much, I only want to

Be down-to-earth, to be a realist

(Note: The Fog City refers to Chongqing)

***

这个身经百战的词

犹如反反复复地在洗一块布

方才，我一直都在埋头苦干，洗一个词

这样洗，那样洗，种种的洗法

都用上了，洗来洗去，一个小时

就被洗没了，就像从肥皂里接二连三地跑出的那些泡泡

不一会儿，就又全部消失了一样

词，安在，就好，就值得我

继续洗下去，哪怕

搓伤，甚至搓烂了我的一向勤劳的手

 

这个身经百战的词，我是必须要洗得很干净的

因为我打算派它去一篇干干净净的文章里

执行重要任务，如果，在这

我只是说如果，确确实实是难以洗干净

并非我不努力，而是……

近来，我经常会碰到“而是”之类的问题

为了节省时间，在这，我就不说了

太累了，有时候，我感到

 

一再地洗它，自然是为了好好地去用它

因此而让它发挥更大的作用

一想到，这个，更大的作用，我就马上

是的，我犹豫了，我迟疑了，我徘徊了，我彷徨了

那么一个片刻，倏忽而过的片刻里

全是雾，比雾都里的雾，还要多

挥一挥，雾，便去了

这事儿，只是发生在我的想象中的事儿

我不敢有过多的想象，只想

实实在在地，做一个实在主义者

***

Always keeping pace with the sound of rain

Having fallen in love with the sound of rain, I often prick up my ears

To listen to it, and record each bit of it one by one—

In nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, adverbs, and conjunctions.

Even when it’s not raining, I can still

Vaguely hear the ensemble of countless raindrops,

I only hope that their ensemble can last a little longer.

The sound of rain, at least, is natural

How deeply those natural sounds enchant me,

No matter how long I listen to the rain, I never feel tired.

What makes me tired are the things

Behind the sound of rain, such as… and also such as…

No need to count them one by one to know there are quite a few,

They always keep pace with the sound of rain, even if

You can catch up with them, it’s not really meaningful.

Since it’s not meaningful, more and more of my time,

Because of the rain, has been “soaked away.”

However, there are also benefits to “sipping the soup”,

Even if it has no taste, you can still feel

A sense of smoothness—how wonderful, even luxurious.

This is what numerous sounds of rain came rushing over

To tell me, vying to be heard first.

At this moment, the rain is pouring heavily. Are you, like me,

Listening to the rain too? If so, let’s just

Listen in silence, savoring it quietly,

Savoring it ten times, even a hundred times, is never too much.

***

总是和雨声并驾齐驱

爱上了雨声，就经常侧耳

听雨声，把些雨声

一一录在名词、动词、形容词、介词、副词和连词里

不是雨天，我也能

恍恍惚惚，听到无数雨点的合奏

只希望，它们的合奏，能够持久一些

雨声，至少是自然的

那些自自然然的声音，是多么地

让我痴迷。雨声，听多久，都是不会觉得累的

让人觉得累的是雨声背后的

那些，那些个事情，比如……还比如……

不用细数就也会知道，是有不少的，它们

总是和雨声并驾齐驱，即使

追得上，也没有多少意思

没有多少意思，就这样，我的越来越多的时间

因为雨水的原因，就

泡汤了，不过，喝汤，也是有喝汤的好处的

没有味道，也会感到

很顺，顺溜，这，是多么地好，甚至奢侈

这是众多的雨声一起跑来

争着抢着，告诉我的

此刻，雨，下得正大，你也和我一样

正在听雨声吧？如果是，我们就只管

默默地听，一边听一边默默地咂摸

咂摸十遍，甚至百遍，并不算多

***

Both This End of the Bridge and That End Are Called “Bridge End”

Both that end of the bridge and this end of the bridge are called “bridge end”,

They don’t seem to differ in the slightest, yet

That end is, after all, that end, and this end is, after all, this end—

There are differences in their positions, even in their symbolic meanings.

If you were to stand at that end and look, things would surely

Be different again. All such differences can only be clearly seen,

And even explained point by point, by those who are actually there.

Those capable people could even write works on Zen or philosophical treatises about it.

 

It’s obvious that the bridge lying there

Is a metaphorical ruler—perhaps a straightedge

Or a carpenter’s square. In any case, it measures that place,

Every person, and the long flow of time in its own way,

Moment by moment. Such measurement is always accompanied by silence,

And thus, it measures silence at the same time.

Silence is so vast, so boundless, so

Difficult to fathom.

 

If this end keeps stretching, it has no limit,

That end is the same—you’ll never see where it stops.

Yet we still keep looking. This act of looking

Truly involves so much: for example,

The transition from winter to spring, the transition from night to day,

And especially the connection between one reality and another.

The moment I mention “connection,” I immediately think of something like spies—

The connection between the previous second and the next second…

You must believe it: the world and everything in it are all connected.

 

Don’t be deceived—spring and autumn always hold flowers in their hands,

But we never know who they are meant for.

One thing is certain: the person who gets the flowers

Is not necessarily the one who ran across the bridge. It is highly likely that

They are the one who has been standing still, watching all directions.

***

这桥头和那桥头都叫桥头

桥的那头和桥的这头，都叫桥头

看上去，并没有什么两样，但

桥的那头毕竟是桥的那头，桥的这头毕竟是桥的这头

有着站位上甚至象征上的不同

如果，是站在桥的那头看，肯定

就又不一样了，种种的不同，只有身临其境的人

才会看得很清楚，进而说出个一二三四来

有能力的人，写禅学著作或哲学论著，也是可以的

 

很显然，摆在了那儿的桥

是一把隐喻意义上的尺子，或直尺

或曲尺，反正，每时每刻，都在以它自己的方式

丈量着那个地方，以及每一个人

以及悠悠岁月……这样的丈量，总是伴随着静默

因此，也就，同时也在丈量着静默

静默，是那么地广，那么地大，那么地

让人难以琢磨

 

这头，继续延伸，是没有头的

那头，也是，总也看不见头，我们却依然

在看，这看的活儿，确确实实

是涉及到很多，比如

冬天和春天的过渡，夜晚和白昼的过渡

特别是，一种现实和另一种现实的对接

一说到对接，我就马上想到了特务一样的

上一秒钟和下一秒钟的对接……你要坚信才是

世界以及世界上的一切，都是对接起来的

 

别看，春秋一直都在拿着花儿，但我们

始终不知它究竟是送给什么人的

有一点，可以肯定，得那花儿的人

不见得就是跑着过了桥的，极有可能，他

是一直一直都在站着不动且窥视四方的那个人

______________________ 

Read: Empty Mountain – Poetry from China