He sweeps on without pause, refusing to rest,
Letting flakes settle thick on his cap and eyebrows.
Li Shangyu writes poetry and fiction, and engages in theoretical research on modern Chinese new poetry. His poems have appeared in major domestic literary journals including Poetry Periodical, Mountain Flowers, October and People’s Literature. His writing centers on the aesthetic modernity of everyday life. Rooted in the classical Chinese poetic tradition, his verse bears the Japanese aesthetic quality of mono no aware (the pathos of transient beauty). Academically, he is influenced by the thought of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the French phenomenologist. He currently serves as a part-time research fellow at the Chinese Poetry Research Center of Anhui Normal University.
李商雨，写诗、小说，并从事新诗理论研究。曾在《诗刊》《山花》《十月》《人民文学》等中国国内文学刊物发表诗歌。其写作注重日常生活的审美现代性，诗歌植根中国古典诗学传统，兼有日本物哀特质；另外，在学术上，还受到了法国现象学家梅洛-庞蒂思想的影响。现为安徽师范大学中国诗学研究中心兼职研究员。
Translated by Ma Yongbo
Sweeping Snow
Father bends low, gripping the broom with both hands to sweep snow away.
Stone tiles emerge beneath the yard’s white blanket;
He has cleared a path leading from the main hall
All the way to the front gate,
While snow still falls thick and fast.
He sweeps on without pause, refusing to rest,
Letting flakes settle thick on his cap and eyebrows.
This sight unfolding before my eyes drowns me in overwhelming loneliness.
It takes me back to childhood, crossing snow-blanketed streets
On my way to school. Every grown soul out sweeping snow,
Chatting as they work.
Children dash about in wild laughter,
Chasing one another through the drifts.
The street I tread shimmers with pale white light,
Yet for some reason, that radiance carries a dimness within it,
Hollow and desolate to behold.
-
扫雪
父亲双手握着扫帚弯腰扫雪。
院子里地砖显露出来
他已经扫出一条从堂屋
通向大门口的路了
而雪还正下得紧。
他不停地扫，不肯停下
任凭雪落在他的帽子上、眉毛上。
这眼前的一幕让我无比孤独。
就像童年时代，穿过一条白色街道
去上学，街上的人都在扫雪
他们一边说话，一边扫。
而孩子们在疯笑着
相互追逐
我走过的街道充满了白光。
但不知为什么，那些白光却是暗的
看上去有些空无。
***
I Can Never See Your Face
Now I am back to the place where I spent my childhood.
A brick path stretches down the long, narrow courtyard,
Jujube and pomegranate trees line one side,
Connected side chambers and the kitchen the other.
Why is the light so dim?
Has it always been this shadowed?
I walk the length of the brick path from one end to the other,
And stop beneath the kitchen’s eave.
Yes, this is where I stand. I know
You will surely appear in the kitchen doorway,
Just as you always have been—
Yet I can never make out your face.
A haze of slate grey, no distinct features at all,
A dark blue towel wrapped over your head,
A lined cross-collar jacket on your frame.
Why do you always come to me like this,
Even when I know full well I am dreaming?
-
我总是看不见你的脸
现在，我又回到幼年生活的地方。
狭长的庭院铺着一条砖路，
一边种着枣树、石榴树，
一边是相连的厢房和厨房。
为什么光线这么昏暗
难道不是一直这么暗吗
我从砖路的一头走向另一头，
在厨房的屋檐下站住了。
是的，我就站在这里，我知道
你必定会出现在厨房的门口，
是的，和以往一样，
我总是看不见你的脸。
一团青灰，没有五官，头上顶着
深蓝色毛巾，上身穿斜襟夹袄。
为什么，你总是这样出现
即便我在梦里知道这是梦里
***
Falling in Love with Time
We walk along the river embankment.
To our left stretch half a sky dotted with lamplights,
And to our right flows the river.
The sky on the right is far deeper in hue than the left,
With Jupiter twinkling above the treeline.
You break into a run, letting out joyful cries.
We hurry after you at a half-jog.
As we race forward,
The luminous expanse of sky on the left sways and shimmers,
While the sky to our right grows ever calmer,
Unfathomably profound.
Against the glow of the left sky,
The river on the right darkens further.
No sound of flowing water reaches our ears; nothing can be discerned.
Upon this embankment, your laughter,
The sight of you running freely,
Render the whole world shrouded in quiet mystery.
This is how we fall in love with time itself.
-
爱上时光
我们走在江堤上
左边是半天的灯火，
右边是江水。
右边的天空比左边的天空深很多，
木星在树林的上面闪烁。
你开始跑动，同时发出欢乐的叫声。
我们只好在后面半小跑地跟上。
在跑动的过程中，
左边的天空开始晃动，
那是明亮的部分。
而右边的天空却越发沉静，
仿佛深不可及。
在左边天空的映衬下，
右边的江水更加幽暗，
听不见水声，什么都看不见。
在江堤上，你的笑声，
你跑动的样子，让人世间
变得这么神秘莫测。
我们就是这样爱上时光的。
________________________
