Selected Translations of Haizi

Original Chinese

姐姐，我今夜只有戈壁

草原尽头我两手空空

悲痛时握不住一颗泪滴

姐姐，今夜我在德令哈

这是雨水中一座荒凉的城

除了那些路过的和居住的

德令哈……今夜

这是唯一的，最后的，抒情

这是唯一的，最后的，草原

我把石头还给石头

让胜利的胜利

今夜青稞只属于他自己

一切都在生长

今夜我只有美丽的戈壁空空

姐姐，今夜我不关心人类，我只想你

English Translation

My sister, tonight I have only the Gobi

At the prairie’s edge I overturn my hands—empty.

Too anguished to even clench a single tear drop

My sister, tonight I am at Delingha

A dreary town drenched in rain

Except for those passing and residing

Delingha… tonight

This is the singular—the final—lyrical

This is the singular—the final—prairie

I return the stones to the stones

Let the victors be victorious

Tonight the barley belongs only to itself

Everything is growing

Tonight I only have the charming Gobi—empty.

My sister, tonight I don’t care about mankind, only you

Original Chinese

春天，十个海子全都复活

在光明的景色中

嘲笑这一个野蛮而悲伤的海子

你这么长久地沉睡到底是为了什么？

春天，十个海子低低地怒吼

围着你和我跳舞、唱歌

扯乱你的黑头发，骑上你飞奔而去，尘土飞扬

你被劈开的疼痛在大地弥漫

在春天，野蛮而悲伤的海子

就剩这一个，最后一个

这是黑夜的儿子，沉浸于冬天，倾心死亡

不能自拔，热爱着空虚而寒冷的乡村

那里的谷物高高堆起，遮住了窗子

它们一半用于一家六口人的嘴，吃和胃

一半用于农业，他们自己繁殖

大风从东刮到西，从北刮到南，无视黑夜和黎明

你所说的曙光究竟是什么意思

English Translation

Springtime, all ten Haizis were recalled to life

Arranged in a bright and dazing scene

Taunting at one brute and battered Haizi

What was the purpose of your deep and prolonged sleep?

Springtime, ten Haizis roared in muffled rage

Surrounding us, dancing and singing

Hairs pulled, hauled through the air, glitter of dust

Your pain from being split apart permeates the earth

During springtime, the brute and battered Haizi

The surviving one, the only remaining one

A child of the night, submerged in winter, willing death

Sunken, with love for the hollow and frigid village

There the grains pile so high it obscures the windows

They use half of it for a family of six: mouth, eating, and stomach

Half for agriculture; their own reproduction

The wind blows from east to west, north to south, ignoring limpid night and hazy dawn

What is the purpose of your promised early light?

Original Chinese

目击众神死亡的草原上野花一片

远在远方的风比远方更远

我的琴声呜咽 泪水全无

我把这远方的远归还草原

一个叫马头 一个叫马尾

我的琴声呜咽 泪水全无

远方只有在死亡中凝聚野花一片

明月如镜高悬草原映照千年岁月

我的琴声呜咽 泪水全无

只身打马过草原

English Translation

Blossoms spawn amidst the green-speared witnesses to the deaths of gods

The farthest of the far winds prove farther than afar

My fiddle weeps with no tears

I return the farness of afar to the prairie

One becomes the horse head, one becomes the rear

My fiddle weeps with no tears

Only the death of afar summons the meadowed tapestry

While the high hung mirror clears the aged paths atop green fields

My fiddle weeps with no tears

Alone, I spur my horse far afield

Original Chinese

天亮我梦见你的生日

好像羊羔滚向东方

——那太阳升起的地方

黄昏我梦见我的死亡

好像羊羔滚向西方

——那太阳落下的地方

秋天来到，一切难忘

好象两只羊羔在途中相遇

在运送太阳的途中相遇

碰碰鼻子和嘴唇

——那友爱的地方

那秋风吹凉的地方

那片我曾经吻过的地方

English Translation

Morning I dreamt of your birthday

Like lambs rolling to the east

—the place where the sun rose

Evening I dreamt of my death

Like lambs rolling to the west

—the place where the sun fell

Autumn comes; everything is remembered

Like two lambs meeting in their paths

In their paths of transporting the sun

Touching their noses and lips

—in the place of love and friendship

—where the Autumn breeze cools

—where I have first learned to kiss

Original Chinese

我请求熄灭

生铁的光、爱人的光和阳光

我请求下雨

我请求

在夜里死去

我请求在早上

你碰见

埋我的人

岁月的尘埃无边

秋天

我请求:

下一场雨

清洗我的骨头

我的眼睛合上

我请求:

雨

雨是一生的过错

雨是悲欢离合

English Translation

I plead to douse

The light of steel, of love, and sun

I plead for rain

I plead

For death at nightfall

I plead that at dawn

You meet

The one who buried me

Boundless debris of the ages

Autumn

I plead

For a torrent

To cleanse my bones

With my eyes closed

I plead

Rain

Rain is a life of regrets

Of sobs, of laughter, of love, and of loss.

Original Chinese

——给我的瘦哥哥

到南方去

到南方去

你的血液里没有情人和春天

没有月亮

面包甚至都不够

朋友更少

只有一群苦痛的孩子，吞噬一切

瘦哥哥凡·高，凡·高啊

从地下强劲喷出的

火山一样不计后果的

是丝杉和麦田

还是你自己

喷出多余的活命的时间

其实，你的一只眼睛就可以照亮世界

但你还要使用第三只眼，阿尔的太阳

把星空烧成粗糙的河流

把土地烧得旋转

举起黄色的痉挛的手，向日葵

邀请一切火中取栗的人

不要再画基督的橄榄园

要画就画橄榄收获

画强暴的一团火

代替天上的老爷子

洗净生命

红头发的哥哥，喝完苦艾酒

你就开始点这把火吧

烧吧

English Translation

—for my skinny brother

Travel south

Travel south

There are no lovers or spring in your blood

No moonlight

Not even enough bread

Friends even less so

Only a group of anguished children, swallowing whole

Van Gogh the skinny brother. O Van Gogh

That which bursts from the ground

That which is reckless as a volcano

As silk clothes and wheat fields

Or perhaps yourself

Spewing out more time to remain alive

Verily, you can light up the world with one eye

But still you use the third eye—the sun of Arles

To burn the stars into a coarse stream of silver

To scorch the earth until it spins

Lifting up the veiny and jaundiced hand, the sunflower

Invites all who exists as cat’s paws

It is now no longer necessary to paint Gethsemane

Rather better to paint the harvest of olives

Paint a violent burst of fire

Substituting God himself

Awash in salvation

O My red-haired brother, after downing the Absinthe

Start to light this fire

Burn on

Original Chinese

所有的日子都是海上的日子

穷苦的渔夫

肉疙瘩象一卷笨拙的绳索

在波浪上展开

想抓住远方

闪闪发亮的东西

其实那只是太阳的假笑

他抓住的只是几块会腐烂的木板：

房屋、船和棺材

成群游来鱼的脊背

无始无终

只有关于青春的说法

一触即断

English Translation

Every day passing is a day spent on the sea

The impoverished fisher

Whose lumps resemble a roll of clumsy rope

Expands upon the waves

Yearning to grasp the Beyond

The thing that sparkles

Is only the fake smile of the sun

What he grabs are only some easily rotten boards:

Cottage, boats, and coffins

The spines of the schools of fish coming by

Is without start nor end

Only the sayings that we have about youth

Break upon touch