Translated by Chen Du and Xisheng Chen
At night actually in a vaguely recalled dream
He transplanted a leafy branchy yet not flowery white lilac
Into my balcony with a vine hanging down from a rafter
Just like a rope or a green snake
He transformed my living room with a collection of
Exquisite books and carved stone monsters into a maze
With not only glinting fireflies but also twinkling crystals
Another night actually in another slightly remembered dream
He infinitely amplified a pot of daffodil
Nurtured by me like a treasure for many years
Turned the daffodil flower into nine and then rendered
The nine incomparably gigantic buds housing sporadically
Nine immeasurably colossal dewdrops
Both the aroma of the flowers more smelly than the odor of the sea
As if artificially nurtured and the viscous viscid skein and tangle
More difficult to deal with
Than the humidity and elasticity contained in seaweed
Highlighted my minuteness like that of a Lilliputian from Lilliput
And caused me to hug the flower stem as huge as a celestial pillar
With dense knife-like prickles and bitterness
Just like an unfortunately abandoned Lilliputian from Lilliput
To fall into a little fit of melancholy yet helplessly desperate weeping
And then to be buried slowly by the water seeping out of a dewdrop
As vast as the vault of heaven
I know it is the tidings about a stranger’s upcoming visit
Or a sign that I am leaving the city to move to another place
However every time when I wake up from my high noon dream
And crane my neck to overlook outside the window
The alley where I dreamt of the lilac, maze and monstrous daffodil
Is empty without a single soul
I can’t see the stranger all the time
Not even a familiar view of his strange back
Or his silhouette flashing through the distant entrance to the alley
In a haste and abrupt manner just like a mirage
Translation:
陌生人以陌生的方式来访
夜里 其实是在某一个隐约忆及的梦里
他把一棵枝叶繁茂但不见花开的白丁香
移植到我的阳台上 他用一根从房梁上
像绳索一样又像青蛇一样悬挂下来的藤蔓
把我收藏着精美图书和一些石雕怪兽的起居室
变成一座有萤火闪烁也有水晶在闪烁的迷宫
另一个夜里 其实是另一个隐约忆及的梦里
他把我珍藏一样养了多年的一盆水仙无限制地放大
把水仙花由一朵变成九朵 让九个硕大无朋的花蕊中
零零散散居住了一些硕大无朋的露珠
好像由人工豢养而出的比海腥味更难闻的花香
以及比包含在海藻中的湿度和弹性
更难对付的黏糊糊的纠葛
强调着我小人国里小人儿一样的小
让我像小人国里不幸被抛弃的小人儿那样
怀抱着天柱般巨大的花茎
那上面刀子一般稠密的芒刺与苦涩
陷入一场又伤感又绝望无助的小小的哭泣之中
之后被一颗硕大如同天空的露珠上泄露的水
慢慢地埋没起来
我知道这是一个陌生人将要来访的消息
要不就是我将离开本城移居他乡的一个暗示
但每一次当我从正午的梦中醒来
探长头颈向窗外眺望
我梦见丁香 迷宫和巨怪水仙的巷子里却空无一人
我始终无法见到那个陌生人
哪怕他熟悉的陌生人的背影
哪怕这个背影就像一个幻影一样
只是突然从远处的巷口上匆匆闪过
—
Yan An is a prominent poet in contemporary China, Yan An is the author of fourteen poetry books, including his most famous poetry collection, Rock Arrangement,which won him The Sixth Lu Xun Literary Prize, one of China’s top four literary prizes. The winner of various national awards and prizes, he is also a Vice President of the Poetry Institute of China, a Vice President of the Shaanxi Writers Association, a member of the National Committee of China Writers Association, and the head and Executive Editor-in-Chief of the literary journal Yan River, one of the oldest and most famous literary journals in Northwestern China. In English, his poetry book, A Naturalist’s Manor, translated by Chen Du and Xisheng Chen and published by Chax Press, was shortlisted (one of four titles) for the 2022 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, administered by the American Literary Translators Association. The poems submitted to your journal are from Yan An’s most famous book, Rock Arrangement, which was published by Shaanxi Publishing & Media Group (Taibai Literary Press) in 2013. Till now, 76,000 copies of Rock Arrangement have been sold in China and the book has been printed three times in China. The first four poems and six other poems were longlisted by the 2021 John Dryden Translation Competition.
—
Chen Du is a voting member of the American Translators Association and an expert member of the Translators Association of China with a Master’s Degree in Biophysics from Roswell Park Cancer Institute, SUNY at Buffalo and a Master’s Degree in Radio Physics from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the United States and a few other Western countries, she has published 142 pieces of English translations, poems, and essays in more than forty-seven literary journals. A set of five poems from Yan An’s poetry collection Rock Arrangement which was co-translated by her and Xisheng Chen won the 2021 Zach Doss Friends in Letters Memorial Fellowship. Yan An’s poetry book, A Naturalist’s Manor, translated by her and Xisheng Chen was published by Chax Press and shortlisted (one of four titles) for the 2022 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize, administered by the American Literary Translators Association. Contact her at [email protected].
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Xisheng Chen, a Chinese American, is an ESL grammarian, lexicologist, linguist, translator and educator. His educational background includes: top scorer in the English subject in the National College Entrance Examination of Jiangsu Province, a BA and an MA from Fudan University, Shanghai, China (exempted from the National Graduate School Entrance Examination owing to excellent BA test scores), and a Mandarin Healthcare Interpreter Certificate from the City College of San Francisco, CA, USA. His working history includes: translator for Shanghai TV Station, Evening English News, lecturer at Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China, adjunct professor at the Departments of English and Social Sciences of Trine University (formerly Tri-State University), Angola, Indiana, notary public, and contract high-tech translator for Futurewei Technologies, Inc. in Santa Clara, California, USA. As a translator for over three decades, he has published many translations in various fields in newspapers and journals in China and abroad.