Today the river’s tide surges up
Overflowing every knotted cord that once held
Gu Yaodong, was born in Xingren Town, Nantong, Jiangsu Province in 1963, and now resides in Nanjing. He began his poetic creation in the 1980s and has published poetry collections including Selected Lyric Poems of Gu Yaodong and The Place Where Dreams Begin Is in Dreams.
顾耀东，男，1963年生于江苏南通兴仁镇，现居南京。20世纪八十年代开始诗歌创作，著有诗集《顾耀东抒情诗选》、《梦开始的地方在梦中》等。
Translated by Ma Yongbo
Written for the Dragon Boat Festival
Written for the Dragon Boat FestivalGreen-shelled duck eggs
Nestled in the heart of bamboo leaves
Like an unsolved secret
Submerged in the Dragon Boat Festival of fifty years ago
Grandma’s bound feet
Could never measure the riverbank’s length
Yet she tightly bound them with reed leaves
The entire flood season, all held fast
She said this way
She could tie down
A childhood always darting to the water’s edge
She said this way
A child who couldn’t swim
Would never sink, never drown
Today the river’s tide surges up
Overflowing every knotted cord that once held
And suddenly I understand
In that year’s glutinous rice
What was wrapped
Was a moon
That could not swim.
***
写在端午
青皮鸭蛋
裹在粽叶中央
像一颗未解的秘密
沉在五十年前的端午
外婆的小脚
量不完河岸
她用苇叶紧紧捆住
整个涨水的季节
说这样
就能捆住
总往水边跑的童年
说这样
不会游水的孩子
永远不会沉溺
如今江湾的水漫上来
漫过所有捆扎的绳结
我忽然明白
那年的糯米里
包裹着的
是颗不会游泳的
月亮
***
Self-Deprecating Note for My Birthday on Grain in Ear
Self-Deprecating Note for My Birthday on Grain in EarWarranty Clause Notice:
This unit is out of the warranty period
Yet its edge and spirit
Are covered by a lifetime warranty
Fault Description:
Candles on the cake stick up like a cactus
Wishes blown away scatter like dandelion seeds
Maintenance Recommendations:
This unit thrives best when sown with spring breezes
Avoids the frost of autumn’s gloom
Keep the factory settings intact—
A Grain-in-Ear brand perpetual motion machine
Occasionally glitches, yet forever sharp
Note: Grain in Ear, the 9th solar term in the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, when grains are ripe and summer harvest begins
***
芒种生日自嘲说明书
保修条款提示：
本机已过质保期
但锋芒仍属
终身质保范围
故障现象描述：
蛋糕插成仙人掌
愿望吹成蒲公英
维修方案建议：
本机宜种春风
忌收秋霜
保持出厂设置——
芒种牌永动机
偶尔卡顿 永远锋芒
***
Trek
TrekWoken by a nightmare at noon in June
Cicada chirps halt abruptly—
Grandma’s bound feet,
Which trekked through wind and rain all her life,
Suddenly stand still at the threshold
This was a scene thirty-six years ago
I have always doubted this memory
The rice dumplings she wrapped still simmer in the pot
Her cattail fan still sways on the bamboo chair
Her call still lingers at the alley corner
The thimble she used for patching soles still glints silver
All at once, every wisp of cooking smoke rises straight to the sky
Every tree shadow is nailed fast to the ground
Grandma’s pair of bound feet
At last have trekked her toil
Into
An eternal slumber
The warmest embrace in this world
Has turned cold unexpectedly
The brightest hearth fire in this world
Has died out abruptly
Grandma
You are trekking now
In the yearning I kindle every year.
***
跋涉
六月正午，被噩梦惊醒
蝉鸣骤停——
外婆的小脚
在风雨里跋涉了一辈子
此刻突然静立门槛
这是三十六年前的情景
我一直怀疑这个情景
她包扎的粽子还在锅里煨着
她的蒲扇还在竹椅上晃着
她的呼唤还悬在巷子转角
她纳鞋底的顶针还亮着银光
忽然间，所有炊烟都垂直向天
所有树影都钉死地面
外婆的一双小脚
终于把辛劳
跋涉成
永久的安眠
这人间最暖的怀抱
竟冰凉了
这人间最亮的炉火
竟熄灭了
外婆啊
您正跋涉在
我年年升起的怀念里
***
Walking Side by Side with the Horizon
Walking Side by Side with the HorizonSixty-three years of mist and clouds
Flicker in the furrows across my brow
I and the sky and earth gaze at each other, bow to each other
I still remember
When standing high, I bent like ripe rice ears
Wind sifted through the golden humility
Shadows curled behind me into a staircase
That was once the path I looked up to climb
I still remember
When sinking low, I rooted myself into a hillock
Letting constellations rise from my back
All that fell away turned into fireflies
That was once a ritual of rebirth
Now I walk parallel with the horizon
Measuring the whispers between wind and fallen leaves
Life’s parabola folds gently in my palm
And melts into a soft, lingering chime
***
与地平线同行
六十三年云烟
在额际的褶皱里明灭
我与天空大地互相俯仰
曾记得
高处时弯成成熟的稻穗
风穿过金黄的谦卑
阴影在身后蜷缩成阶梯
那曾是仰望的路径
曾记得
低处时把自己站成山岗
任星群从脊背升起
所有坠落的皆成萤火
那曾是重生的仪式
如今我与地平线平行
测量风与落叶的私语
人生抛物线在掌心收拢
化作一缕柔和的钟声
***
Written on the Beginning of Winter
Written on the Beginning of WinterAs a child, I feared winter most of all
The wind howled fierce, the snow lay thick and tall
Grandma pasted waste newspapers over every door crack
At night, grandma’s soft bosom
Was the warmest earth for my freezing feet
As a child, I feared winter most of all
Mother unwrapped her own spring days
Taking her red wedding cotton-padded jacket
Stitching its fabric into my coat’s lining
A gray cloth covered the leaping flame
I hugged my schoolbag tight, walking through the school gate
Like clutching a lantern
Too timid to brighten
Now the seasons cycle, frost dusts my temples
I yearn for grandma’s chest
I yearn for the depths of mother’s wardrobe
Where the snow of years ago
Whispers rustling in every stitch and seam
***
写在立冬
儿时最怕冬天
风好大雪很厚
外婆用废报纸
把门缝糊得严严实实
夜里，外婆柔软的胸怀
是我双脚最暖和的大地
儿时最怕冬天
母亲拆开自己的春天
把结婚穿的红棉袄
缝进夹层
灰布罩住跳跃的火焰
我抱着书包走进校门
像抱着一盏
不敢拨亮的灯笼
如今节气循环至双鬂
我想外婆的胸膛
我想母亲衣柜深处
多年前的雪
在针脚里沙沙作响
_____________________
