Step out the front gate, head east to the stationery shop
To print your child’s school assignments.
Chu Mei, a native of Shandong Province, has resided in Xi’an for a long time. Born in the 1970s, she began writing poetry in the 1990s. Her poems have been published in numerous poetry journals including Stars Poetry Journal, Selected Poems Journal, Poetry Periodical, Thatched Cottage, Poetry Forest, Shanghai Poets and Chinese Poetry. Her works have been included in multiple annual anthologies, and she has won several essay and poetry contest awards. She has published two poetry collections: Time Is Calling Your Name and Lateral Buds.
初梅，山东人，长居西安。70年代出生，90年代习诗，作品主要发表于《星星诗刊》《诗选刊》《诗刊》《草堂》《诗林》《上海诗人》《中国诗歌》等诗刊，入选多种年度选本，获过几个征文奖。已出版诗集《光阴正喊你的名字》《侧芽》。
Translated by Ma Yongbo
To the Woman, Bear This in Mind
Step out the front gate, head east to the stationery shop
To print your child’s school assignments.
Buy two English exercise books and one math exercise book.
You’ve run out of white sugar, and mature vinegar is gone too.
So on your way back, turn west
And stop by the convenience store.
Otherwise tonight’s dinner will taste bland and tasteless,
And even the fine tableware will feel dull and joyless.
Woman, peach blossoms know the art of capturing souls,
As do begonias, yulan magnolias, apricot blossoms and plum blossoms.
Beneath the boundless spring radiance,
They only preen themselves before mirrors,
Casting glowing glances left and right.
They can never give you a single copper coin,
Nor pass down a single home recipe.
You must walk wide around them.
Woman, if you waste twice the usual time,
And come back to cook only to find
You still forgot the sugar and vinegar,
Very well then, I shall not hold you to account.
Just like when you snuck pastries as a little girl,
Your mother pretended she knew nothing at all.
妇人，请记住
出了大门, 向东, 去文具店
给孩子打印作业
买两个英语作业本、 一个数学作业本
白糖没有了, 老陈醋也没有了
所以, 回来时, 再向西
去一趟便利店
否则今天的晚餐, 寡淡无味
好看的餐具也会觉得无趣
妇人, 桃花精通摄魂术
还有海棠、 玉兰、 杏花、 李花
它们除了喜欢在万道春光下
揽镜梳妆, 顾盼生辉
既不能给你一个铜板儿, 也不会传授你
一道食谱儿
你务必绕开它们走
妇人, 如果你花去了双倍时间
回来做饭时发现
仍然没有白糖和老陈醋
那么, 好吧, 我也不打算追究
就像你小时候偷吃了点心
妈妈也假装, 不知道
***
Being Alive
Fallen blossoms are humble,
I stoop to gather them, and I am humble too.
Leaves withered out of season are humble,
And their unfulfilled longing is humble as well.
New shoots budding on the branches,
Fully aware of their destined end,
Are equally humble.
Trees stand in countless shapes and bear countless names,
Crowned with luxuriant canopies,
Yet they remain humble amid raging, all-encompassing rainstorms.
Shrubs shorter than the trees, and grasses,
Have always dwelt in humility.
Rainwater is humble; the east wind is humble,
So humble
They might as well not exist.
This entire spring is steeped in humility,
Long before the Qingming Festival arrives.
Phrases like riding high on the spring breeze,
A garden bursting with spring scenery,
Spring stretching boundless as the sea,
A fleeting spring night of bliss—
All these have turned into elegies, merely uttering them stings,
Like facing the Last Judgment.
All things live in dread:
Those already gone,
Those slipping away this very moment,
And those trembling, treading lightly,
Unsure when their own end will come.
They dare not step outside their gates,
Dare not raise their voices, dare not draw a deep breath.
Only a faint, nearly imperceptible crunching sound lingers
Like a mouse pricking up its tiny ears, darting its beady eyes,
Thinking it stays vigilant, burrowing in the dark
To gnaw grain seeds.
活着
落花是卑微的
我将它们捡回来, 是卑微的
反季枯死的叶子是卑微的
它们的不甘, 是卑微的
正在枝头生长的, 知道自己的最终宿命
也是卑微的
树以各种形态, 各种名姓, 华冠加身
在铺天盖地的暴风雨中, 也是卑微的
低于树的小灌木, 草
一直都是卑微的
雨水是卑微的, 东风是卑微的
卑微到
可以忽略不计
这个春天, 都是卑微的
早在清明之前
春风得意, 春色满园, 春深似海, 春宵一刻
就都是祭词, 念及便疼, 如同
末日审判
一切都在为逝去的
正在逝去的
不知自己何时逝去而
胆战心惊, 谨小慎微地
活着
不出大门, 不出大声, 不出大气
只有像张着小耳, 转着小眼, 自以为充满警惕的老鼠
在黑暗处埋头吃谷粒一样的
细小若无的
咀嚼声
***
Where I Reside Now
Five hundred meters to the south lies the Qujiangchi Heritage Site.
One kilometer to the north stands the Leyou Plateau Heritage Site.
One kilometer to the east sits the Cold Kiln Heritage Site.
Five hundred meters to the west stretch
The Furong Garden Heritage Site, the Heritage Site of the Great Ci’en Temple Site,
The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda Site, and the Tang Dynasty City Wall Heritage Site.
I dwell side by side with the ancients now,
Though my eyes cannot behold them, I know they linger here,
Pacing the streets back and forth each day
Just as we do,
At the sight of us, they step far aside to avoid crossing paths.
I pray that one day an ancient soul
Fails to dodge me in time, collides head-on with me, and merges into one being,
Then I shall differ from every living soul, and turn into a person
Without a shadow.
.我现在所居住的地方
往南五百米, 是曲江池遗址
往北一千米, 是乐游原遗址
往东一千米, 是寒窑遗址
往西五百米, 分别是
芙蓉园遗址, 唐大慈恩寺遗址, 大雁塔遗址, 唐城墙遗址
我现在, 与古人为邻
虽然我看不见他们, 但我知道他们
像我们一样每天在大街上
来来往往
见到我们, 远远避开
我祈祷有一天有一位古人
避之不及与我迎面相撞, 合而为一
我就与众生, 有了区别, 就成了一个没有
影子的人
__________________________
Read: Rain Coming – Poetry from China
