We know so little of darkness
Ever since we wrote lines praising sunlight…
Lu Dong
Lu Dong, born Lu Hui in Nanjing in 1956, is a writer, poet and art critic. He graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Nanjing University. He began writing poetry in 1979. His early poems published under the pen name Lu Hui were included in influential poetry anthologies such as Selected Misty Poems (Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House, 1985), Selected Poems by Young Writers (China Youth Press, 1986), and Exploratory Poetry Anthology (Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1986). He has published a poetry collection Sleeping Flowers and a biography Immortal Grace in Unworldliness: A Critical Biography of Lin Sanzhi, the Sage of Cursive Script.
路东，原名路辉，1956年生于南京，作家、诗人、艺术评论家，南京大学中文系毕业，1979年开始诗歌创作，早年以“路辉”为笔名的诗作被收录在《朦胧诗选》（春风文艺出版社1985年）、《青年诗选》（中国青年出版社1986年）、《探索诗集》（上海文艺出版社1986年）等名噪一时的诗歌选本中。出版有诗集《睡眠花》，传记《不俗即仙骨：草圣林散之评传》。
Translated by Ma Yongbo
On Darkness
We know so little of darkness
ever since we wrote lines praising sunlight
we have grown used to bearing enmity toward dark
in the Chinese tongue, within lands lit by light
to behold wondrous things
I have squandered much of my life
within symbolist phrasing
what finds shelter where light cannot reach
amid refusal, let it rest in calm
we know so little of darkness
darkness, to us
holds depths deeper than words
perhaps, when symbols are erased from the earth
the darkness brimming with nourishing power
stands in its own being
关于黑暗
我们对黑暗所知甚少
自从写出称颂阳光的句子
就习惯了敌意黑暗
在汉语，为在光照之地
看见了不起的事物
我已在象征主义句式里
虚度了大半生时光
光芒不及处，什么被庇护
在拒绝中，泰然让之
我们对黑暗，所知甚少
黑暗之于我们
它的幽深，甚于词语
也许，大地上取消了象征
滋养力饱满的黑暗
才是其所是
______
It
I have never seen it
I have seen its shadow
it may be black
or neither white nor black
wind stirs its shadow
I see a white shadow
whiter than an ancient white horse
swifter than the horse
the wind stirs the white first
then stirs the white shadow
I have never seen it
only its shadow
perhaps it lies beyond the wind
or behind the wind
it may even stand close beside me
I cannot see it
I step into its shadow
at the whitest point of the white shadow
not a breath of wind is heard
I cannot see it
only some names
drift within the shadow
it may hide itself
inside certain words
in many places
I see its white shadow
I have never seen it
它
从没看见它
我看见它的影子
它可能是黑的
可能不白不黑
风吹动它的影子
我看见白影子
比古老的白马白
比白马更快
风先吹动了白
之后吹动白影子
我从没看见它
只看见它的影子
它也许在风之外
或在风的背后
也可能近在身旁
我看不见它
我进入它的影子
白影子最白处
一点风声也没有
我看不见它
只有一些名字
飘在影子中
它可能隐匿在
某些词语中
我在不同场合
看见它的白影子
从没看见它
______
One Way of Writing Poetry
Nothing is harder than writing poetry
for instance, I write a reckless line
by the second line, the first feels wrong
delete it, and the second becomes the first
the beginning then conceals the event
like toppling the Qing dynasty so the Republic might emerge
this kind of revolutionary method, once recalled
will surely admit invented elements
the story breeds the force of mishaps
now I wish to erase that line above
or slot it among lines yet to be written
keeping it for now is no compromise with history
mostly to see the tangled facts clearly
I am no genius, so I learn the art of cutting and revising
every sentence may branch into new tangents
this touches the secret of how a work grows
they say fine poems mostly wear an inscrutable face
has nothing to do with classics, this way I write
lets many Chinese characters, be more than mere likenesses of things
more than fixed dictionary meanings
leaving old sentence patterns behind, they emerge from chrysalis as butterflies
shifting views within the flow of thought
this is no mere game of arranging lines
Chinese characters still hold unmet gifts
since “The Book of Songs”, they have kept secrets deep
poets care too much for polished grace
few feel troubled over this
to me, writing poetry is like a supplication
a hermit abides, always here, close beside me
I still have no gift to offer in homage
whenever I think of this, quiet pain settles in my body
nothing is harder than writing poetry
诗的写法之一
没什么事比写诗更难
比如，我写出了一个冒失的句子
写第二句时，觉得第一句不当
删掉后，第二句就变成了第一句
开端就隐匿了事件
又如干掉清朝，民国才出现
这种革命方式，一旦回忆起来
一定会加入虚构的东西
故事又繁殖出事故的力量
现在，我就想删去上面这个句子
或将它插入将写出的句子间
暂时保留它，不是与历史妥协
主要是为看清混淆的事实
我不是天才，才学习删改的艺术
每个句子，都可以节外生枝
这涉及作品生长的秘密
据说，好诗大都有费解的面相
与经典无关，我这种写法
让众多汉字，不止于拟物象形
也不止于限定的字意
它们，离开旧句式，转蛹成蝶
在意念中移步换影
这不只是成行排列的游戏
汉字，仍怀才未遇
从诗经开始，就隐私深藏
诗人们太在乎文质彬彬
为此不安者少之又少
对我来说，写诗如吁请
有隐者在，向来在，近在身旁
至今，我尚无致敬之礼物
每想及这些，我就隐痛在身
没什么事比写诗更难
_______
Learning to Recollect
Most of a sheet of paper is filled with words
what lines will emerge in the remaining space
it concerns recollection of what came before
memory shapes recollection
what is written above determines what comes below
one’s memory holds fragments of many kinds
and fissures large and small
the bone and blood of age stand vivid only in parts
most of a sheet of paper is filled with words
the day misted into hallucination, recollect it
obey memory only, be memory’s servant
every person carries their own context
recollection revises or deletes the flawed lines above
and opens another kind of space for what follows
it is an adventure, conversing with memory
foam overflows in filthy water, you must step past sediment
to find a path of escape
inventive recollection is an art, greater than memory
to learn recollection carries an unprecedented spirit
first you must doubt memory, within your memory
lies a romantic zone
crammed with all manner of stirring lines
spring blooms and warmth, yet tinged with lies
many canonical lines have piled into your memory
peel them away, and masks fall off
your prior text incorporates public phrases
a slow poison, addictive once swallowed
those who obey memory sink deeper into the poison
with every act of recollection
even knowing “the compendium of materia medica”
yields no folk remedy for the ailment
recollection may become a kind of fictional narrative
when personal memory and national memory
clash in story, the order of context
must be rebuilt. what lines
will appear on this sheet of paper
the art of recollection demands imagination awaken
days of black script on white paper, this sheet
has little blank space left, to learn recollection
does not guarantee you can be remade
on this paper, spoken or written language both suffice
rewrite the phrasing of the above text, the following text you write
even if no startling line rises amid mortal smoke
will reward repeated reading
学会回忆
一张纸大半已写满文字
剩余的部分将会出现什么句子
它涉及对上文的回忆
记忆决定了回忆
上文，就决定下文
一个人的记忆，有各种碎片
和大大小小的裂隙
年龄的骨与血，也只局部醒目
一张纸大半已写满文字
云雾致幻的日子，回忆它
只遵从记忆，是记忆的仆人
每个人，都有上下文
回忆，修改或删除上文的败笔
为下文开启另样的空间
是一场冒险，与记忆对话
污水中泡沫泛滥，要踏出沉渣
找到一条出离之路
有所发明的回忆
是一门艺术，高过记忆
学会回忆，有破天荒的风气
首先要怀疑记忆，你的记忆中
有一个浪漫主义地带
那里塞满了各种感人的句子
春暖花开，也有谎言之嫌
许多经典句子已堆进你的记忆
一剥离，就会脱落面具
你的上文，加入公共性句子
有慢性毒药，一吃就上瘾
遵从记忆的人，每回忆一次
中毒更深，熟读本草纲目
也无解治的偏方
回忆，可以是某种小说叙事
个人记忆和国家记忆
发生故事性冲突，上下文秩序
就需要重建。这张纸上
将会出现什么样的句子呢
回忆的艺术，必须想象力发作
白纸黑字的日子，这张纸
剩余的空白不多，学会了回忆
不一定能从这张纸上
脱胎换骨，口语或书面都行
修改上文句式，你写出的下文
就算烟火中冒不出惊人之句
也耐读很多
_________________
Read: Slingshot – Poetry from China
