When the season bends down to gaze at its own reflection,
The whole mortal world trembles gently along with you.
Lv Mu
Lv Mu, birth name Zhang Yongfa, was born in Jishishan, Gansu Province in 1988. He serves as an editor for the monthly literary magazine Qinghai Lake, a member of the Chinese Poetry Society and Qinghai Provincial Writers Association, and a participant in the 36th Minority Writers Workshop at Lu Xun Academy of Literature.
His poems have been published in numerous journals including National Literature, Chinese Campus Literature, Contemporary Poetry, Poetry Monthly, Stars Poetry Journal, Caotang Poetry Journal, Feitian Literature, Qinghai Lake and Snow Lotus. His works are collected in anthologies such as Sixty Years of Excellent Xinjiang Poetry, Ten Years of Qinghai Literature (Poetry Volume) and Anthology of Chinese Ethnic Minority Poetry.
He received the Newcomer Award at the 2nd National Rural Poetry Grand Prix and the Third Prize in the 2023 Global Poetry Contest of Qinghai Lake Poetry Festival, and was shortlisted for the 4th China Contemporary Poetry Award. He has published two poetry collections: Songs of Little Birds and I Wait for You by Qinghai Lake. He currently resides in Xining.
绿木，本名张永发，1988年生于甘肃积石山，系《青海湖》文学月刊编辑，中国诗歌学会会员，青海省作家协会会员，鲁迅文学院第36期少数民族作家班学员，作品散见《民族文学》《中国校园文学》《当代.诗歌》《诗歌月刊》《星星诗刊》《草堂》《飞天》《青海湖》《雪莲》等，入选《新疆60年诗歌精品》《青海文学十年选（诗歌卷）》《中国少数民族诗选》等多种选本，曾获“第二届全国乡土诗歌大奖赛”新秀奖，2023“青海湖诗歌节全球诗歌征文”三等奖，入围第四届“中国当代诗歌奖”，著有诗集《小鸟之唱》《我在青海湖边等你》，现居西宁。
Translated by Ma Yongbo
Book of Heavy Snow
From the tinkling of countless mountain streams,
from jagged cliffs split open on barren hills,
from the hush left behind when lunar tides recede…
Ah, this is no shiny panpipe of silver sheen,
this is an age of silver bestowed by heaven.
Freeze over, freeze over—gathering myriad clear new births.
The dull cold ache lodged in the flesh
needs no testimony to prove its existence.
(At what hour shall we melt into blank emptiness?)
When the season bends down to gaze at its own reflection,
the whole mortal world trembles gently along with you.
Birdsong hangs suspended mid-air, never falling to earth;
a faint trail of footprints leads straight to the wooden cottage gate.
Is it the self who once wandered apart and lost its way?
There is no need for anxious brooding.
Ahead, amid the morning glow, winter plums are blaring forth
a solitary, resounding ode to spring.
大雪书
自众多溪水的叮咚
自荒山破裂的巉岩
自月潮退却后的寂静
……啊，这并非银亮的排箫
这是天赐的白银岁月
冰封，冰封，汇集众多明澈的初生
身体中寒凉的淤痛
未必需要证词
（我们将在怎样的时辰汇入空白？）
当时节俯向自身的倒影
整个人间便随你微颤
空中未落的鸟鸣
一行浅浅的脚印通向柴扉
可是走散的自己
无需多虑
前方晨曦中，梅花正高奏着
孤绝的春曲
_____
Ballad of Late Autumn
I hear the steed from my dreams
has settled on the high hills of hometown.
I hear the wilderness stretch vast and bare;
frost arrives overnight,
shaking the hidden cares of plants and trees
into golden fragments covering the ground.
Autumn deepens.
The deepened autumn is a cold, drowsy pool,
cradling an unseen tiger in its depths.
Clouds chant their own ballad,
water hums its own ballad, wild ducks croon theirs,
forever singing of a world shrouded in pale reeds.
All things dissolve and drift apart in the wind:
some will bloom anew, others vanish forever.
The mere thought of this
fills my heart with sorrow and joy intertwined.
深秋的歌谣
听闻梦中的骏马
已在故乡高高的山坡安家
听闻四野寥廓
寒霜一夜之间登场
将草木之心事
摇落成遍地黄金
秋深了
深了的秋是一泓暝寐的寒潭
怀抱着看不见的老虎
而云有云的歌谣
水有水的歌谣，野凫的歌谣
时时唱颂着一片蒹葭苍苍的人间
万物都在风中爢散
有的还将重生有的永远消逝
一想到这些
我就悲欣交集
_____
Encountering Snow Upon Homecoming
Snow falls on the road, falls on
the farmland, and heavier snow settles deep within my heart…
Past days and future paths
blend into boundless misty white.
Oh, hometown,
I have come back.
Oh, Mother,
I have come back.
I am but a fleeting wanderer,
clutching fervent affection alone,
to embrace you tight.
From afar I behold
mother standing before the old house,
beside the gnarled, lopsided elm tree with weathered bark.
Before I draw near enough to stand beside her,
her voice drifts to my ears: My child,
why has so much snow
landed upon your head?
回乡遇雪
雪落在路上，落在
田野，更大的雪落在心里……
往昔与前程
一片苍茫
噢！故乡
我回来了
噢！妈妈
我回来了
我是个短暂的旅人
空怀一腔热情
拥抱您
远远就看见
老屋门前站立的母亲，与
老皮皴裂的歪脖子榆
还没走到母亲跟前
就听到母亲的声音: 娃啊
咋有那么多雪
落在了你的头上
______________________
Read: Grassland in Mist – Poetry from China
