Yong Shu Hoong 
Translator

on Lyrikline: 5 poems translated

from: 中文 to: 英文

Original

Translation

组屋楼下的摄影创作

中文 | 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

英文

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.

Translated by Yong Shu Hoong and Chow Teck Seng

当灵感逮捕了诗人

中文 | 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

© Teck Seng Chow
Audio production: The Literary Centre and Sing Lit Station

When Inspiration Arrests the Poet

英文

 

[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

Translated by Yong Shu Hoong, Tan Chee Lay, and Chow Teck Seng

15岁的班级照

中文 | 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

© Teck Seng Chow
Audio production: The Literary Centre and Sing Lit Station

Class Photo at 15

英文

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

Translated by Yong Shu Hoong

爱情

中文 | 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

© Teck Seng Chow
Audio production: The Literary Centre and Sing Lit Station

love

英文

 just like rows of ridges and graves and teeth

leaves wither and gather
to leave

ants march in search
for sweets

Translated by Yong Shu Hoong

中文 | 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   

© Teck Seng Chow
Audio production: The Literary Centre and Sing Lit Station

Living

英文

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.  

Translated by Yong Shu Hoong