Five Poems from Yuan Changming Translated from the Chinese by the Author
My Crow
Each crow you have seen
Has a quasi white soul
That used to dwell in the body
Of one of your closest ancestors
He comes down all the way just to tell you
His little secret, the way he has flown out
Of darkness, the fact both his body and heart
Are filled with shadows, the truth about
Being a dissident, that unwanted color
Hidden in your own heart is there also a crow
Much blacker than his spirits
But less so than his feathers
我的乌鸦
你瞥见的每只乌鸦
都有颗半白的灵魂
它以前的栖身处是
你最直系的一位祖先
它不远万里飞来，只是要告诉你
它的一个小小秘密，它如何飞出
黑暗，它的心身如何充满阴影，以及
它作为叛逆者不受欢迎的肤色
在你自己的心中也有一只乌鸦
比它的精神更黑
但比其羽毛更淡
刊于《字花》2015年夏季期
The Painter and the Viewer
between your brush tip
and mountain top
you seek eternity in the blank
while i am lost
among thick patches of ink
观赏者与画家
在灵动飞舞的笔尖
与巍然矗立的高山
之间， 一个在空白处
获得永生，一个在浓墨前
失去自我
Like Birds, Like Humans
All doors are man-made
Even those in hell and heaven
Behind every door
Is either a home
Or a prison cell
More often both
Than neither
The only living space without a door
Is a nest or the sky
Both for birds
Neither for man
像鸟，像人
所有的门都是人造的
即便是天堂和地狱里的门
在每扇门后
要么是个家
要么是个牢房
多半两者皆是
很少皆不是
唯一无门的生活空间
是鸟巢或天空
两者皆属鸟
皆不属人
Thought Hunting
stalking behind it
i sneaked into the thick forest
where it suddenly vanished
i did not know when, even whether
it would reappear at all
lying long in ambush
at the heart of silences
i became increasingly aware
the jungle has no prey in the first place
except hunting per se
思想猎人
我遁着它的身后
偷偷潜入茂密的森林
突然，它消失得无影无踪
不知它是否还会折返
久久静伏在幽深处
我渐渐似有所悟：
丛林中本无猎物，只有追寻
见刊于《海外诗刊》2013年3月4日
Within This Open Bottle
Every bee dies
While charging towards light
All flies survive
Even thrive
By fleeing into darkness
What
What if the empty bottle rotates
在这开口瓶里
每只蜜蜂都死于
冲向光明的霎那
因为逃往黑暗
苍蝇们都活了下来
甚至更加繁盛
如果
如果空瓶倒转呢？
Yuan Changming grew up in an impoverished village, began learning English at age 19, and published monographs on translation in China. His work has appeared in the Best of the Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, and Poetry Daily. He served on the poetry jury for Canada’s 2021 National Magazine Awards. He lives in Vancouver where he edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan.
