Regretfully, this photo taken of the rain
Only captures the things washed by rain:
Runway, benches, street lamps, surveillance cameras.
In truth, the rain is pouring heavily right now.
Cheng Yishen, born Xiao Xuezhou, is a native of Kaifeng, Henan Province. In the early 2000s, he studied in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Peking University. During his campus years, he won the inaugural We Literature Award. Seven of his poems were included in Sunlight on the Ground: An Anthology of Contemporary Peking University Poetry 1978–2018, edited by Professor Hong Zicheng. He has published poetry collections including Peking University Sonnets and The Infinite Allure of Finite Things, as well as academic monographs such as An Introduction to Zhu Guangqian’s Poetic Aesthetics, Shaping New Poetry, Poetry Reading Lessons and A Study on Chang Yao’s Poetic Craft. His translated poetry works comprise Derek Walcott’s White Egrets, Fernando Pessoa’s Looking at the Clouds Beside You, I Carry the Universe with Me, The Universe Rebuilds Itself and Tired of Love, alongside George Szirtes’s The Yellow Room. He has also translated Czesław Miłosz’s memoir Native Realm.
程一身，本名肖学周，河南开封人。21世纪初求学于北大中文系。在校期间，曾获第一届“我们”文学奖。诗7首入选洪子诚老师编的《阳光打在地上——北大当代诗选1978-2018》。著有诗集《北大十四行》《有限事物的无限吸引》，专著《朱光潜诗歌美学引论》《为新诗赋形》《读诗课》《昌耀诗艺研究》；译诗集沃尔科特《白鹭》、佩索阿《坐在你身边看云》《我将宇宙随身携带》《宇宙重建了自身》《厌倦了爱》，西尔泰什《黄色房间》，米沃什回忆录《欧洲故土》。
Translated by Ma Yongbo
I Would Rather Watch the Rain
Regretfully, this photo taken of the rain
Only captures the things washed by rain:
Runway, benches, street lamps, surveillance cameras.
In truth, the rain is pouring heavily right now.
With a rhythmic rustling sound,
Neat lines of rain fall evenly
Upon the grass, not striking straight down.
Instead, slanting—yet still perfectly ordered—
They seep into all things. Even the wind
Cannot ruffle their arrangement.
No one asked the rain to be so perfect;
It upholds this grace of its own will.
Should this not shame those who break lines at random?
Rain is more beautiful than poetry,
I would rather watch the rain.
***
我情愿看雨
遗憾，这张拍摄雨的照片
只拍到了雨洗涤的事物
跑道长椅路灯摄像头
事实上此刻雨下得很大
伴随着有节奏的唰唰声
一行行整齐的雨线均匀
落入草地，不是垂直撞击
而是倾斜着（仍不改整齐）
渗入事物。甚至风
也不能吹乱它们的布局
没有人要求雨这样完美
它自己坚持。这岂不让
某些随意分行的人羞愧
雨比诗美，我情愿看雨
***
The Old West Gate in Drizzling Rain
Beneath the drizzle, the roads by the Old West Gate
Stretch unusually wide. Inside glass storefronts
Rows of empty chairs stand lined. Since you left,
Our home too is like these glass shops.
The fine drizzle sharpens my sense of the world.
Bit by bit, cold seeps into my skin,
Into our overlapping reflections on the glass table.
A lamp hangs low in the dusk; the air around it
Burns softly in endless stillness.
Its growing glow wraps us in light.
Like lead actors on a stage, we put on no performance
Only quiet companionship, occasional embraces.
We seem long accustomed to this quiet state.
With parting close at hand, there is no room for deeper closeness.
***
微雨中的老西门
微雨中，老西门的路
格外宽敞，玻璃店铺里
摆着成排空椅子，你走后
我们的家也像这玻璃店铺
微雨增强了我对世界的感知
点点滴滴的凉渗入我肌肤
渗入玻璃桌上我们相邻的倒影
一盏灯悬在黄昏里，周边的
空气持续加入安静的燃烧
愈来愈亮的光照耀着我们
如剧场的主角，谈不上表演
只是寻常的陪伴，偶尔的拥抱
似乎我们已习惯这种状态
离别在即也没有可供深入的空间
***
Passing Zhengzhou
Passing Zhengzhou by train, I think of my father, no longer of this world.
The Erqi Tower still stands, yet no one knows how long it will last.
The doctor who once treated you is still alive,
His days also numbered. Among the living,
Few know you have departed this mortal life.
What good would more knowing do? Only heavier sighs.
The bell at Erqi Square still chimes on time.
Our love shall never rise again.
Our delicate flesh has bred
Tender souls, ever sensing the flesh’s
Agony and decay. Before all ruin comes,
Let us, in a corner of this chaotic world,
Each be our own center. I am here, you are there,
Yielding to the infinite allure of finite things.
***
车过郑州
车过郑州想起不在尘世的父亲
二七塔还活着，不知还能活多久
给你看过病的医生还活着
不知还能活多久。在活人中
没有几个知道你已不在尘世
知道的多又如何？徒增叹息
二七广场的钟声还定时敲响
我们的爱再也不会复活
我们精致的肉体孕育出
敏感的心灵，随时感受肉身的
疼痛与毁灭。毁灭之前
让我们在混乱世界的一角
自成中心，我在这里你在那里
接受有限事物的无限吸引
_____________________
