Poetry by Ma Lan--A Bridge 一坐桥

A Bridge

A bridge is burning, from the breast
Down the two sides, and straight to the navel

One end is the plaintiff’s fire, the other is revenge’s water
No one knows that the sobbing of winter
Has overflowed the dikes

A bridge tries to escape the pursuit of meaning
All it takes is one misstep
Ah, my last home, together with hungry tigers

A bridge mistakes another bridge’s karma
Some fish, regard the bridge from underneath
Ah, my foreign blood, I’ve strayed from home, only because
Of my little Xun, who stands behind me
Whether Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly or he was a butterfly dreaming
Either way subverts the dream

A bridge immersed in river water
How many springs did she endure loneliness
What a shameful life, water and fire fracture at once
In fact it doesn’t matter, a thousand years later
We are strangers crossing the bridge

June 2003

一坐桥


一座桥在燃烧，从胸脯出发
沿着两腰，直奔肚脐

桥头是原告的火，桥尾是复仇的水
谁也不知道冬天的哭泣
漫过了河堤

一座桥逃离对意义的追述
仅一次失手
我最后的家园呵，与饿虎为伍

一座桥误解另一座桥的姻缘
几条鱼，在桥中看桥
我异域的血呵，背井离乡，只因
我的小迅，站在我的身后
无论庄周梦蝶或蝶梦庄周
最后都推倒了这个梦境

一座桥浸透了河水
她寂寞了多少春天
多丢人的生活，水和火同时骨折
其实这不算什么，千年之后
我们是陌生的过桥人

2003/6