过去的乳名 | 汉诗英译

   过去的乳名      辛夷

竹林下，浣衣的女子有一个是我母亲

她和所有没见过世面的女人一样

喜欢谈论熟悉的人事，我时常梦回溪畔

听她们津津乐道别人的婚丧嫁娶

仿佛那就是生活的全部，也许就是这样吧

乡下的琐事，永远能带给她快乐

返乡的日子，母亲显然过得

比城市自在。古沟是她和父亲的

出生地，也是我的

回到这儿，我就像那些在方言里

土生土长的植物，拥有奇怪

却能让人会心一笑的乳名

那个乳名在过去的日子里

仿佛浮漂般，悬在黄昏

当我答应时，暮色便把我

垂钓到一顿顿温馨的晚餐前

选自《诗刊》

Childhood Pet Name

by Xin Yi

Under the bamboo grove, one of the women washing clothes by the creek is my mother.

Like most countrywomen, she loves

a neighborly gabfest; I sometimes travel back in spirit to the creek,

catching their conversations about this wedding and that funeral

as if that's all there is about life; maybe it is indeed.

The banality of the countryside always pleases her.

On the days we were there, she obviously felt

more at ease than in the city. Old Gulch is her and my father’s

birthplace, and mine, too.

Back there, I am identified

by a ludicrous but amusing pet name,

like so many indigenous plants.

In the old days, this pet name

worked like a fishing lure, floating in the evening twilight,

waiting for me to rise to the bait

to yank me back to the dinner table for a sumptuous meal.

辛夷，本名张泽鑫，80后，广东揭阳人，现居广州。广州市作家协会会员。2015年底重拾诗歌，有作品发表于《诗刊》《星星》《草堂》《中国诗歌》《中西诗歌》《诗潮》《诗选刊》《广州文艺》等期刊、选本及中国诗歌网“每日好诗”、“中国好诗”。偶有获奖。

Translated by Duck Yard Lyricists

Duck Yard Lyricists is a group of devoted poetry lovers: Meifu Wang, Michael Soper, & Guy Hibbert.