Three black birds
Alight on the ashen-gray branch
When their wings flutter
They vanish.
Lei Mo is an eminent poet of China
Lei Mo, born in Hai’an, Jiangsu Province in 1963, now lives in Nanjing. In the early 1990s, he took the lead in proposing “new Zen poetry” and carried out writing practice, making him a representative poet of new Zen poetry. He has authored works such as New Zen Poetry: Hitting the West Wall from the East Wall and Selected New Zen Poems by Lei Mo. His works have been published in various literary magazines at home and abroad and included in many important anthologies. “Realizing emptiness through verification of reality, and reaching emptiness from reality” is the core of his poetics. He advocates that Chinese poetry writing should “assimilate the ancient, assimilate the present, and assimilate European and American elements”.
雷默，1963年出生于江苏海安，现居南京。20世纪90年初率先提出“新禅诗”，并进行写作实践，是新禅诗代表诗人。著有《新禅诗：东壁打西壁》《雷默新禅诗精选》，作品在国内外多种文学杂志刊发，并收入多种重要选本。“悟空证实，由实及空”是其诗学核心，倡导汉语诗歌写作“化古、化今、化欧美”。
Translated by Yongbo Ma
Bare Branches
Three black birds
Alight on the ashen-gray branch
When their wings flutter
They vanish
Another black bird lands
In the split second it turns its head
The branch trembles slightly
I gaze out the window for a long time
All morning, no more birds come flying.
***
空枝
三只黑鸟
落在灰白的枝上
翅膀抖动时
它们消失了
又一只黑鸟落下
扭头的刹那
树枝轻颤
我久久地望着窗外
一上午，再也没有鸟飞来
***
April
In April, I see
Trees growing on the hillside
Different every day
New buds on the first day, dense shade by the fifteenth
In April, I hear
Forests singing under the moonlight
Like birds today, like horses yesterday
In April, my daughter
She can walk now, tottering unsteadily
***
四月
四月 我看见
树的生长 在山坡上
每天不一样
初一新芽 十五浓荫
四月 我听见
林的鸣唱 在月光下
今天像鸟 昨天似马
四月 我的女儿
她会走路了 东倒西歪
***
At Huiji Temple in Pukou
1
Wintersweets under the blue sky
Quietly wither, as if they were still
In full bloom, one by one, just a few days ago
Bees bustle among the flowers
They know well
That the blossoms will vanish tomorrow
2
Green vegetables in the sunlight
Stealthily grow, as if they were still
The same size as they were yesterday
Worshippers park their cars
In the vegetable garden; little do they know
That the green vegetables have long since attained Buddhahood
***
在浦口惠济寺
1
腊梅在蓝天下
静静凋谢，仿佛还是
几天前，一朵朵地盛开
蜜蜂在花丛间
忙碌，它们知道啊
花朵，明日就要消失
2
青菜在阳光下
悄悄生长，仿佛还是
昨日，一样的大小
烧香者将汽车
停在菜园里，他们哪里知道
青菜啊，早已坐化成佛
***
To Conscience
To ConscienceEvery single flower is conscience,
Even if she is as tiny as a grain of sand.
They emerge from wastelands, hillsides, and roadside edges,
To awaken all slumbering species.
Even if their existence is but a fleeting moment,
They appear with inherent brightness and contentment.
They perish in wind, rain, thunder, and lightning,
Then reincarnate, on another branch.
Flowers in the dark night
Are ever-burning lamps.
***
致良知
每一粒花朵，都是良知
哪怕她渺小如沙
她们，从荒野里，山坡上，马路边
秀出，唤醒一切沉睡的物种
她们，即便只有短暂的一瞬
一现身就光明自足
她们，在风雨、雷电中夭折
而后转世，在另一枝头上
黑夜里的花朵
是永不熄灭的灯火
_____________
Read: Gulangyu in Early Spring
