Saturday, November 25, 2006

News From the Ark

A GENERATION
—Gu Cheng (China, 1956-1993)

The pitch black night gave me two deep black eyes
with which to search for light.

(translated from the Chinese by Sam Hammill)

_______________________

DISCOVERY
—Gu Cheng

Of all the people who went into the snowy mountains,
Only Bulin discovered the path.
Though there's just a few meters of it,
Though Venus
Broke a tooth there,
None of this prevented
An Englishman from dying,
Lying in the middle of the road, smiling,
Orchids and tender leaves sprouting
From his ears,
And a rosy glow on his face.

What did that mean?
Bulin frowned
And at last he remembered:
When he was nine, he had come
To spend summer, and had planted a box of matches.
They sprouted, and bore
Berries the size of match heads.
The Englishman gobbled them up
Out of greed.

What a discovery!
Unprecedented, perhaps—
the berry a match bears is poisonous!
Bulin started the trip downhill
And reached the Lama temple made of manure.
He stood stock still, ready to be robbed of his secret
At knifepoint.
But it didn't work out that way. He could only
Sob his heart out
And lash thin copper cables around his stockings
To escape into the deep marshes.

There
Slippers clamored in a frenzy
And turned into a cluster of frogs.

(translated by Eva Hung)

_______________________

ARK
—Gu Cheng

The ship you've boarded
is doomed to go under—
vanish into the breathing sea.

But you will still have time to stare at the flag,
or at the dark, unfolding plain,
or at the white birds twittering
over their watery grave.

You still have time to lean on the rail,
puzzled by a sound in the passageway—
though the whole ship is empty,
though every door is ajar—

till cool flames float up
from every cabin.

(translated by Donald Finkel)

_______________________

—Medusa

Medusa encourages poets of all ilk and ages to send their poetry, photos and art, and announcements of Northern California poetry events to kathykieth@hotmail.com for posting on this daily Snake blog. Rights remain with the poets. Previously-published poems are okay for Medusa’s Kitchen, as long as you own the rights. (Please cite publication.)
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