Awaken by Hu Xuan, tr. Wang Ping

Awaken 

by Hu Xuan, tr. Wang Ping

 

When I woke up, you were still sleeping

I listened to the birds singing, alone

Then you wake up, I’m no longer the man 

Listening to birds, just someone accompanying you

What separated us is the bird song and your sleep

And I can’t connect them, or bring the bird song 

Into your dream, it’s hard

Too hard to describe all this

But had I awakened you 

I’d have been the man listening 

To the birds with you, not the man 

Listening to their singing, alone

Fortunately, the world hasn’t changed a bit

Only I did

 

醒来

胡弦

我醒来时，你还在沉睡，我独自听鸟鸣。

等你醒来，我已不是那个听鸟鸣的人，只是一个

陪伴着你的人，把我区别开的

是鸟鸣，和你的睡眠，我却不能把它们

联系在一起，把一阵鸟鸣

带到你梦中，多么困难，描述这一切

多么困难，而如果把你提前叫醒，

我将只是个和你一起听鸟鸣的人，而非

刚才那个听鸟鸣的人。

——还好，除了我，世界并未曾有所改变

 

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Wang Ping is a Chinese-American poet with over a dozen books to her name who lives in St. Paul, MN. See her webpage, WangPing.com.

See my reviews of her latest two poetry books at this post.