Summer 2005
 
 

CONTENTS

 
  GROWING RICE 稻作記事
   By Wu Sheng 吳晟
   Translated by David van der Peet 范德培
 
  MOTHER, 99 母親九十九
   By CHUANG Ling 莊靈
   Translated by David van der Peet 范德培
 
  CHUANG LING—NAVIGATOR BETWEEN POETRY AND MODERNITY
莊靈—領航者,擺渡在詩情與現代間
   By WANG Ya-Lun 王雅倫
   Translated by Patty Pei-Jung LEE 李佩蓉
 
  AT EASE IN AND OUT OF “THE WORLD”—CHUANG LING’S TAKE ON FIFTY YEARS OF LIFE
出世入世皆自得—莊靈靜觀人生劇場五十年

   By CHANG Tsang-sung 張蒼松
   Translated by Patty Pei-Jung LEE 李佩蓉
 
  POEMS BY HSIA CHING夏菁詩選
   SNOWY PEAK 雪嶺

   ONCE 曾經
   PAST EVENTS 往事
   By Hsia Ching 夏菁
   Translated by John J. S. BALCOM陶忘機
 
  POEMS BY BAI LING 白靈詩選
   BUYING AN UMBRELLA AT THE FOOT OF BIG    GOOSE PAGADA 大雁塔下買傘
   THE GOBI—ON A TRIP TO DUNHUANG
   大戈壁-敦煌旅次

   THE TRUE AND THE FALSE 真假之間
   By Bai Ling 白靈
   Translated by John J. S. BALCOM陶忘機
 
THE BURNT OFFERING OF A LETTER 焚燬的家書
   By CHEN I-chih 陳義芝
   Translated by John J. S. BALCOM陶忘機
 
  WOODEN FISH 木魚
   By YUAN Che-sheng袁哲生
   Translated by Ivan Yong-chieh CHIANG 強勇傑
 
  NEWS & EVENTS 文化活動
   Compiled by Sarah Jen-hui HSIANG 項人慧
 
  NEW BOOKS BY OUR MEMBERS 會員新書
 
  NOTES ON AUTHORS AND TRANSLATORS
作者與譯者簡介
 
  APPENDIX: CHINESE ORIGINALS 附錄:中文原著
 
  OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE OF ELDER PAI 白公祠牆外,REAR WINDOW OF A MOUNTAIN PERCH
「山居後窗」,

   Mutan Town,PingtungCounty,
   By CHUANG Ling 莊靈

 


Chen I-chih 陳義芝

THE BURNT OFFERING OF A LETTER
焚燬的家書*

translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機

 

How can I speak with you ever again

Speak with the falling snowflakes,

speak with the thawing river

Speak with a phone line, a burst of chaotic wind

In a poplar grove in the obscure clouds at the 53rd parallel

After June 11th

 

So much to say is consigned to a chip

You who could not be saved have shown me how to swallow my mortal

Strength, to wear a cold cangue

The sadness of failing to bring you back to life, henceforth this loneliness

This loneliness, keeps me from speaking ever again

 

We no longer inhabit the same time, we have

Parted from a shared time. Those mixed feelings

For home in a foreign land, the loneliness, the perplexities of life and school

The parents’ concern for their child’s distress

Have all become broken memories

 

All I can hear are the sighs of the wind and evening light, at this moment

The sea sighs near the cliffs of Fulong. DivineVulturePeak

Guards with folded wings, supporting the heavens,

encircling the waves

This is the city of mantras arrived at after 21 kalpas

Another land we both uphold

 

In addition to the sutras, incense, and kneeling before the bodhisattva

You have taken the body obtained from your parents and reduced it

To ashes in an urn, bid farewell to tears and blood, bid farewell to

The words no one can utter that pass through

The last nightfall in a foreign land of four distinct seasons

 

Have you bid silent farewell to the first color of dawn or

The forgetfulness on the journey? The sad smile amid the crowd

Or secret fears and nightmares

How can I speak with you ever again

When the monk’s kasaya has been hung up and all that remains is

The silent walking of a wandering ghost

 

Your mother and father nurtured your life, now they nurture your death

Just as the poplar leaves tremble in the early summer wind

in Edmonton

You arrived in June and you departed in June

No more roads to stumble on, no more need to clean your room

This small urn turns out to be the cradle of your rebirth

 

A black hawk flies high above the treetops like an apparition

Your red sports car careened into my dream again as a premonition

Was it news of another visit home?The light of dawn

Teaches me, teaches me how to speak with you again

To speak until stopped by death

. . . .

From the Literary Supplement of the Lien-ho pao《聯合報》( United Daily News ) on June 2, 2004.
   

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