Live Encounters Poetry & Writing February 2024.
I Turn into Rain, poems by Zhou Jun.
Translated from Chinese by Anna Yin.
I Turn into Rain
As a woman
In the rain, I am penetrating
In the frigid winter, I am transparent
When not believing in love, a drop of water, I turn into…
Do you believe? This drop of water
Slowly, slowly dribbles by your feet
Trying so humbly to catch another glimpse of you
On the merciful earth
我化成了雨
作为一个女人
在雨中，我透彻
在冬天的寒冷里，我透明
在不相信爱情的时候，我化成了一滴水
你相信吗？ 这点水
缓缓地， 缓缓地挪到你的脚边
在仁慈的大地上，试图那么卑微地再看一眼你
Gift
A ball of fire
Tangled within the ice
Chanting on the spindle, spinning, ascending
The honey-peach breasts, ashes of the pale moon
All sink into darkness
Buddha, cracking-open the hard shell
Takes off a grain of purity
Snow-white
Flesh
Tenderly, tenderly
Placed it on my still palm
In the night
馈赠
一团火
在冰的内部纠错
诵经纺锤上回旋、上升
柔美的乳房、月亮的灰烬
全部沉入了黑暗
佛，敲开硬壳
取下一粒纯净
白皙
的肉身
在夜色中
轻轻地，轻轻地
放置在我寂静的手掌上
Openness in My Heart
A great gust blows through here
When your hand holds me, it seems not really held
Farewell comes eventually, two very different roads
The night gets dark, I still sing and dance
Birds murmur to me in their dream nests like miserable orange juice
The spring water carries us to the place where children go, sprinting
Where you are, the light is bright —a night that my eyes focus on
心中有旷
巨大的风在这里吹过
当你的手握住我，好像并没有握住
告别就来到了，两条迥异不同的路
夜黑了，我还是会唱歌跳舞
鸟在梦巢里朝我呢喃，像伤心的橘子汁
泉水带着我们朝有孩子去的地方，奔跑
你那里，光线明亮，是我双眸聚焦的黑夜
© Zhou Jun
Zhou Jun is a freelance columnist and writer who lives in Hang Zhou, China. She is the author of several novels, including: The Proud Painter: A Biography of Wu Guanzhong and The Eruditionist in the Forbidden City: A Biography of Yang Boda. Her poetic drama, Night Visits to Nuwo, won the third prize in a major play competition held by Contemporary Drama and Shaanxi Playwright Association.
Translated from Chinese by Anna Yin. She was Mississauga’s Inaugural Poet Laureate (2015-2017) and has authored five poetry collections and a book of translations: Mirrors and Windows (Guernica Editions). Her poems/translations won awards and appeared at ARC Poetry, New York Times, Queen’s Quarterly, China Daily, CBC Radio etc. She teaches Poetry Alive and lives in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.