User:SchmuckyTheCat/poetry

聽陳蕾士的琴箏 (Listening to Chen Leh-shih’s Zither), by Hong Kong poet Wong Kwok-pun, has been included as an essential text in Hong Kong secondary school textbooks. The following translation is by Lie Jianxi, first published in Poetry Network, Issue 28.

聽陳蕾士的琴箏 Listening to Chen Leh-shih’s Zither   他的寬袖一揮，萬籟 就醒了過來. 自西湖的中央， 一隻水禽飛入了濕曉， 然後向弦上的漣漪下降. 

With a flutter of his wide sleeves the world  from its slumber wakes. On this moist morning  a waterfowl soars above the waters of the West Lake before it gains a perch on the rippling strings.  月下，銀暈在鮫人的淚中流轉， 白露在桂花上凝聚無聲， 香氣細細從睡蓮的嫩蕊 溢出，在發光的湖面變冷. <BR>

The moon sheds its light on the Chiao Jens’ tears (1). <BR> Silent is the dew on the sweet osmanthus, <BR> as the fragrance steals from the sleeping lotus's pistils, <BR> and cools itself upon the shining lake. <BR> <BR>

涼露輕輕地敲響了水月，<BR> 聲音隨南風穿過窗櫺<BR> 直入殿閣. 一陣蕩漾<BR> 過後，湖面又恢復了平靜. <BR>

Softly the dew stirs the mirrored moon, whose <BR> whispers, wafting through the window on the breezes,<BR> enter the hall. The stirrings come and go, <BR> restoring the lake to its former stillness. <BR> <BR>

他左手抑揚，右手徘徊，<BR> 輕撥著天河兩岸的星輝，<BR> 然後抑按藏摧，雙手<BR> 遊隼般俯衝滑翔翻飛. <BR>

Fiddling with the stars around the galaxy, <BR> his left hand plucks the strings while his right<BR> hovers. Controlling the pressing and plucking <BR> the hands like falcons fly. <BR>

<BR> 角徵紛紛奪弦而起，鏗然<BR> 躍入了霜天；後面的宮商<BR> 像一隻隻鼓翼追飛的鷂子<BR> 急擊著霜風衝入空曠. <BR>

The chiao and chih tones, clanging their way <BR> resolutely into the frosty air, are followed by <BR> the kung and shang that, braving the piercing wind, dash (2)<BR> like chasing sparrow hawks into the vastness of the sky. <BR>

<BR> 十指在急縱疾躍，如脫兔<BR> 如驚鷗，如鴻雁在大漠陡降；<BR> 把西風從竹林捲起，把木葉<BR> 搖落雲煙盡斂的大江. <BR> The ten fingers on the zither leap, like rabbits in flight, <BR> seagulls in fright, wild geese in abrupt descent in the wilderness.<BR> They stir the west wind in the bamboo grove, scattering <BR> leaves o’er the big river where the mist has dissipated. <BR>

<BR> 十指在翻飛疾走，把驟雨<BR> 潑落窗格和浮萍，颯颯<BR> 如變幻的劍花在起落迴舞，<BR> 彈出一瓣又一瓣的朝霞. <BR>

The ten fingers on the zither run, splattering raindrops<BR> on the window and duckweeds, flashing like<BR> dazzling dances of a sword that<BR> toss off petals and petals of twilight.<BR>

<BR> 雪晴，山靜，冰川無聲. <BR> 在崑崙之巔，金色的太陽<BR> 擊落紫色的水晶. 紅寶石裏<BR> 珍珠如星雲在靜旋發光. <BR>

The snow is now clearing, the mountains tranquil, the glaciers hushed.<BR> Atop Mount Kwunlun the golden sun has slashed off purple <BR> crystals, while the pearls amidst the rubies <BR> in quietude revolve, displaying a nebulous twinkle.<BR>

<BR> 然後是五指倏地急頓……<BR> 水晶和融冰鏗然相撞間，<BR> 大雪山的銀光驀然在高空<BR> 凝定. 而天河也靜止如劍. <BR>

Then the five fingers of a hand abruptly halt...<BR> As the crystals and thawing ice clash, the silvery <BR> rays from the snow mountain in Heaven freeze. <BR> Like a sword in poise is the serene galaxy. <BR>

<BR> 廣漠之上，月光流過了<BR> 雲漢，寂寂的宮闕和飛簷<BR> 在月下聽仙音遠去，越過<BR> 初寒的琉璃瓦馳入九天. <BR>

High above the wilderness the moonlight brushes <BR> o’er the clouds. In the zither’s heavenly music <BR> the lonely palace and its eaves recede, reaching <BR> the Ninth Heaven, leaving our glazed roof desolate. <BR>

<BR> 一九八二年九月二日 <BR>

Notes <BR><BR> (1) Chiao Jens （鮫人）, the legendary mermaids in Chinese folklore, whose tears could turn into pearls. The Account of Curiosities（博物誌）records that beyond the South Sea there are the Chiao Jens (mermaids, lit. ‘shark people’) who live in the water like fish, but spin like women on land: their weeping eyes can exude pearls. <BR> (2) Chiao, Chih, Kung, Shang: four of the five notes of the pentatonic scale of ancient Chinese music: 宮，商，角，徵，羽 (do, re, mi, sol, la).