Liang Yujing translates Zuo You
Liang Yujing writes in both English and Chinese, and is now a lecturer, in China, at Hunan University of Commerce. His publications include Willow Springs, Wasafiri, Epiphany, Boston Review, Los Angeles Review, Bellevue Literary Review, and many others.
Zuo You is a Chinese poet based in Xi’an. His poems have appeared in some major literary magazines in China. He is hearing-impaired and can only speak a few simple words.
The Hotel
Celestial trees stand upside down outside the window. The train a crackless gap
falling down from the clouds. Tonight I stay with bats,
crooning for darkness. Rocks contract their four fingers.
The wall gradually resembles the face of my grandma who died a decade ago.
Empty bells mingle with streetlight. Under the moon,
the tea is fragrant. A woman guest stays in the adjoining room, playing the flute.
One of her oil-copper breasts lies outside the quilt. Laden with grief,
she plays a series of vacant echoes.
Whose cat suddenly jumps on the table? A teacup rolls. It keeps up its courage:
tiptoed, it creeps into the hot edge of the woman guest’s quilt.
旅馆
左右
窗外倒立着天空的树。火车像云朵上掉下来的
没有裂痕的缺口。今夜我和蝙蝠们在一起
为黑暗低歌。岩石紧缩着四个手指头
墙面越来越和逝去十年的老祖母——脸庞吻合
空荡荡的钟，和路灯交杂在一起。月光下
茶香喷喷。吹笛的女旅客，住在我左手隔壁
她一只油铜色的乳房，掉在被外。忧伤满面
吹出空荡荡的回声
谁家的猫突然窜在桌面上，茶杯翻滚。它一直在鼓足勇气：
轻手轻脚，溜进女旅客滚烫的被角
Horary Chart
Cold night falls. It keeps raining. The air is fresh.
Inside me, a horary chart is turning without stop. Petals clinging to the ground.
A conscious wind gently knocks at my door. The sandglass on my lips has foretold:
my dream will go back to where you are lost.
桃花上的卦盘
寒夜来临。雨一直下着，带有清新的空气
身体里的卦盘旋转个不停，花瓣沾在地角
风随意识轻轻敲门。唇上的沙漏预告过我：
在哪里遗失过你，我就梦回哪里