Pan Cheng Lui 潘正镭 (b. 1955)

SELECTED POEMS

牙膏

每天早上
我捏出一条虫
刷洗
制造了整晚的
梦

因为午夜时分
我的头每每
离开我，到一个地方去
思考

而我们发现我
总爱喃喃自语
他们总爱以道德的柔道
把我绊倒
在帝王广场

所以在我变成
蝴蝶之前
他们把虫送了给我
你听，我的话语
都是那么清清爽爽

然而
我的头
每当午夜，还是会离开我
星星何我有了新约会

by Pan Cheng Lui 潘正镭
from A Tree Reborn (1998)

Toothpaste

Every morning 
I squeeze out a worm and 
wash the dreams I created 
last night

Because by midnight,
my head often leaves my
body, travelling to another place
to think 

And when they find me,
always murmuring to myself,
with a moral judo throw, they love 
to toss me onto the ground 
of Emperor square

Therefore, before I turn into a 
butterfly,
they give me a worm.
Listen,
you can hear my uttering  
so clear and so crisp

And yet, 
each midnight, 
my head still leaves my body
To go on a date
by the stars.

by Pan Cheng Lui 潘正镭
translated from the Chinese by Jonathan Chan
from A Tree Reborn (1998)

 

SELECTED POETRY: <蚂蚁人> [Ant People] >