Yong Shu Hoong
Translator
on Lyrikline: 5 poems translated
from: الصينية to: الانجليزية
Original
Translation
组屋楼下的摄影创作
الصينية | Teck Seng Chow
你搬家了好像搬到天国
一些观礼者与遗憾匆忙定格
死神充当导演
手中剧本轻沾灰尘
左右手食指拇指一起比划成
正七和倒七的手势
棺木与50元白金充满恨意的对角
亲爱的观众
请你低头、祷告,然后上香
一段唢呐一曲低啜一首流行曲
起伏思潮掀起上周三
马来婚礼幸福的裙角和美丽的笑
黄袍加身后的王子与王妃
子夜醒来,一段段承诺
一场场不知名意外的生老病死
生死同场、悲喜共聚
一次次的幸福与微笑
如冰块般永远定格凝住
照片中亲爱的死神也上香了
双手合十着
死者胸前的
三根肋骨
Shots at a HDB Void-deck Funeral
الانجليزية
You moved. To the Heavens, perhaps.
Hastily captured in the viewfinder:
a familiar audience and not-so-familiar regrets
Death
directed the long since inscribed script
now covered with dust and glory;
his thumbs and index fingers from the left and the right
together formed a rectangle
at unreasonable angles
off the corners of the rectangular coffin
and the condolences shown thru’ a rectangular 50-dollar note
dear Audience
will you please bow, pray and offer incense sticks
amidst the wailing of suona, weeps of mourners and loud pop songs?
Captured too, the blissful wedding dress of the Malay wedding last Wednesday
and beautiful smiles of the King and Queen of the day in their royal gowns
all promises made, all lives led
unforeseen accidents and deaths, smiles and bliss
share the same space
— Captured and frozen in time.
We saw. In the photos, dear Death
paid his last respects
With three rib-bones of the deceased
as incense sticks between his palms.
当灵感逮捕了诗人
الصينية | Teck Seng Chow
【如懵懂孩童的诗人】
一坚持迷恋思考的男人
任女人挑逗
任寂寞色诱
【飞走的灵感】
一险被尘网捕捉的蝴蝶
被发现
在某朵花上
安静站成一枚微颤的标本
【一瞬间的逮捕行动】
文字绑架眼睛
历史囚固语言
我用误读牵你的手
牵手 是最温柔的逮捕
Audio production: The Literary Centre and Sing Lit Station
When Inspiration Arrests the Poet
الانجليزية
[A poet with childlike ignorance]
a man insists on being in love with thinking
despite
the flirtations from women
and, seductions of desolation
[Inspiration that has fluttered away]
a butterfly that narrowly escaped the worldly web
was found
rooted to a certain flower
quivering into a silent specimen
[The momentary arrest]
abducting the eyes with words
trammeling language with history
accepting my hands together with my misreading, you did
through the holding of hands forms the sweetest arrest
15岁的班级照
الصينية | Teck Seng Chow
默写记忆
默读悲伤
听写你的名字
偷看你的脸
对当下心不在焉了一会儿
你的微笑留级多年
Audio production: The Literary Centre and Sing Lit Station
Class Photo at 15
الانجليزية
Dictating memories
Silently reading sorrows
Spelling your name
Peeking at your face
Losing my focus for a moment
Retained was your smile for considerable years
爱情
الصينية | Teck Seng Chow
如山与坟与牙的排列
为了离别
落叶以枯黄的队形聚集
为了甜蜜
蚂蚁愿意排队长征
Audio production: The Literary Centre and Sing Lit Station
love
الانجليزية
just like rows of ridges and graves and teeth
leaves wither and gather
to leave
ants march in search
for sweets
生
الصينية | Teck Seng Chow
当我念出“生”的字音时
一念完我们便开始死亡
接着,闹哄哄的重生 再安静死去
当我们用生最复杂的声音
在客体的躯壳中以灵魂的形态存活时
我们是明信片中最简单的山
当我用山间最简单的颜色
为明信片贴上思念时
我是小镇的客栈
Audio production: The Literary Centre and Sing Lit Station
Living
الانجليزية
I voiced the word "living"
yet we started dying
as the sounds began fading
reborn into a clatter, and in silence, ceased being.
Our souls briefly resided
in borrowed flesh and bones
as a cacophony of voices
imprinted on postcards, as the simplest ridges we stand.
I used the most basic colours
of the mountains to affix
reminiscences onto postcards,
in time, as the guesthouse in town I shall remain.