by Gaaya Cheang, translated from the Chinese by Vai Si
FISH SAYS
you pressed close to the glass and looked at me
I did the same to look at you
we met at this time
didn’t know where we were
you said water is transparent
I said fate is like water
it tastes like loneliness anyway
with no body temperature
no complete dreams could be made
you waved your tail
swam here and there
like in times unknown
my life
is colder than yours
魚說
你貼近玻璃望我
我也貼近玻璃望你
我們此刻相遇
不知身在何處
你說水是透明的
我卻說命運如水
反正都是孤獨的味道
沒有體溫
造不成完整的夢
你擺尾
游來游去
一如未知的歲月
我的生活
比你更冷
AN UNDERTAKER PAYS HIS RESPECTS TO MJ
lightning came
from a black hat
hero emerged
at the moment youth thrown on stage
before the screen
candlelight peacefully faded
mourning?
thorns above the guilty one’s head
you admitted
a loyal singer’s death
bang! bang! bang!
dance
ideal rhymes swaying in wine
revealed
pale wounds
clapped with bones eroded by culture
anaesthetized not yet awakened
still a pair of black leather shoes
knew your way
silently stopped in empty echoes
stood like a reed never got lost
coffin covered
there lay
a cold leopard
stroked his claws
jerky old music
broke the black tent
in the plot of the lonely MV
mutant town man
had a dream
on the crazy and happy dead road of the end of days
bang! bang! bang!
21st century
in the memory of tsunami you become
the steadily losing side
sang in a low voice
city in memory
you didn’t know here was
still the time which no one knew about heroes
your moon dance
for the proof of existence
in the newspaper there’s a story
about your complicated love affairs
spread instantly like syphilis in this old society
you found the darkness in life broke up light
the aesthetics that you believed in
perhaps was the last tribe
all the love and civilization
forgotten in the morgue
一位仵工向MJ致敬
閃電來了
一頂黑帽
冒出一名英雄
在舞台上拋下青春的瞬間
熒幕前
燭火安詳地枯萎
哀悼？
罪人頂上的荊棘
你又不是沒有承認過
一位忠實歌者的死亡
啪！啪！啪！
跳動起來
用浪蕩於酒的理想押韻
透露
一道道蒼白的傷痕
用文化侵蝕的骨頭鼓掌
你的麻醉未醒
仍舊一雙黑色皮鞋
認得自己的路
靜靜停在空洞的迴聲中
豎立如一根不會迷失的蘆葦
蓋好棺木
這裡躺了一頭
已經冰冷的豹子
撫摸他的爪
斷斷續續的老音樂
唱碎黑色帳幕
孤獨MV情節中
變異城市人
做了一個夢
在末世瘋狂快樂黃泉路上
啪！啪！啪！
廿一世紀
你在思念的海嘯中成為
節節敗退的那方
低聲歌唱
記憶中的城市
你不知道原來這裡
是一個還未懂得英雄的年代
你月球般的舞步
為了獲得一個生存證明
報紙上一則關於自己
紛亂的戀情
在這個舊社會像梅毒般散開
頃刻
你發覺生活中的黑暗拆散了光明
被你信仰的美學
也許是最後的一個部落
所有的愛與文明
遺忘在停屍房內
Translated from the Chinese by Vai Si.
Gaaya Cheang is a poet living in Macao. He is an editor of Macao Pen (澳門筆匯) and he has published five books of poetry, the most recent one being a bilingual collection, Fruits of the Last Love, translated from the Chinese by Vai Si.