The sun sinking beyond the hazy city skyline is beautiful.
Heading home after work is beautiful.
Song Ninggang, poet and scholar, holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Nanjing University and currently teaches at the School of Liberal Arts, Xi’an University of Finance and Economics. He has published more than ten works including poetry collections Your Light (2017), Xiao Yuan and Abbas (2019), Poems for Children (2020), Fantasia of Mr. Fish (2024), and poetry criticism works Sand and the World: Close Readings of Twenty Modern Poems (2017), Poetic Soul of Chang’an: Essays on Shaanxi Poetry in the New Century (2019).
宋宁刚，诗人、学者。南京大学哲学博士，现任教于西安财经大学文学院。出版有诗集《你的光》（2017）、《小远与阿巴斯》（2019）、《写给孩子的诗》（2020）、《鱼先生奇想曲》（2024），诗论集《沙与世界：二十首现代诗的细读》（2017）、《长安诗心：新世纪陕西诗歌散论》（2019）等十余部。
Translated by Yongbo Ma
Dusk Is Beautiful
Dusk is beautiful.
The sun sinking beyond the hazy city skyline is beautiful.
Heading home after work is beautiful.
Greeting acquaintances casually is beautiful.
Walking past middle school students in pink T-shirts is beautiful.
A young mother teaching her daughter exercises in a small shop is beautiful.
Orderly traffic flow is beautiful.
The low hum of car horns is beautiful.
Crossing the road safely under green lights is beautiful.
Buses pulling into platforms is beautiful.
Fresh air drifting into crowded carriages is beautiful.
Catching peaceful faces inside another vehicle through the window is beautiful.
A child sound asleep in an elderly woman’s arms is beautiful.
Female workers wiping grime from faces after leaving the metro construction site is beautiful.
Loud stir-frying sounds echoing in residential quarters is beautiful.
A bowl of mild corn porridge is beautiful.
Seedy red pomegranates are beautiful, small apples are beautiful.
Apart from all these mundane joys, reading Records of Dingxi Orphanage,
Jiabiangou Chronicles and Gulag: A History beneath night lamps is also beautiful.
Drinking a mouthful of water to ease car sickness nausea is beautiful.
Looking up and embracing the boundless tranquility outside the window, feeling free is beautiful.
Knowing such trivial freedom will never be taken away is beautiful.
黄昏是美好的
黄昏是美好的
太阳从满是雾霾的城市边上沉落 是美好的
下班回家是美好的
向不很熟悉的人打招呼 是美好的
从一群穿粉色T恤的中学生旁经过 是美好的
小店铺里年轻的母亲教女儿一起做保健操 是美好的
有序的行进 是美好的
汽车低沉的鸣笛 是美好的
在绿灯的保护下穿过十字路口 是美好的
公交车开进站台是美好的
人满为患的车厢 送进清风是美好的
透过车窗玻璃 看到另一辆车里安详的表情 是美好的
孩子在老妇的怀中熟睡是美好的
修地铁的女民工走出铁皮隔离区 擦脸上的污垢 是美好的
住宅区里 响亮的炒菜声是美好的
一碗淡淡的玉米粥 是美好的
红而多籽的石榴是美好的 小个头的苹果是美好的
撇开这一切 在夜晚的灯下
读《定西孤儿院纪事》《夹边沟纪事》《古拉格：一部历史》
是美好的
为了压住晕车的恶心深深喝一杯水 是美好的
抬起头来听窗外无边的宁静 感到自由是美好的
不必担心这些微末的自由被剥夺 是美好的
***
Let it out right now
A newly slaughtered sheep from the abattoir
was delivered downstairs
a call was made
asking Hanghang’s mother to fetch it
mom soon came in
carrying a heavy woven bag
“what is it?”
Hanghang chased after and asked
“a sheep.”
“Let it out right now and let me have a look.”
mom said nothing
dragged the bag into the kitchen
leaving a few snow-white traces on the floor
快放出来
屠宰场新宰的羊
送到楼下
打电话
叫航航妈妈去取
一会儿功夫
妈妈提着沉甸甸的蛇皮袋
进门了
是啥？
航航追着问
羊
快放出来让我看看
妈妈没应声
拖着袋子
走进厨房
地板上留下 几粒雪
***
Watching a Movie
My three-year-old son has fallen asleep.
I dim the wall lamp, and my wife and I settle down to watch a film.
It is around eleven at night,
soft and low, like the melody in the movie.
Chasing the joy of watching films,
a little boy runs at full speed,
tumbles down on the country road,
dust billows up, blurring the camera lens.
We cannot help crying out,
then quickly clamp our mouths tight.
Our sleeping son stirs and sits upright,
only to slump back drowsily.
The movie within the movie begins to unfold,
before long, the boy on screen will also drift into sleep.
看电影
三岁的儿子睡了
拧暗壁灯 我与妻看一部电影
夜里十一点光景
舒缓低沉如影片中的音乐
为着看电影的欣喜
小男孩撒腿狂奔
跌倒在乡间路上
扬起的灰尘掩埋了镜头
我们不禁喊出声
赶忙又掩住嘴
熟睡中的儿子翻身坐起
又睡眼惺忪中倒下
影片中的电影正在开场
过不多久 电影里的小男孩也将睡去
______________________
Read: Be a Quiet Donkey – Chinese Poetry
