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Poetry

A Couple’s Old Sutra

By Yang Jian
Translated from Chinese by Fiona Sze-Lorrain

She is old
breasts sagging
like bags of flour
River runs from their hometown
people on two banks
change batch after batch
like summer fireflies
that glow and dim
But the river won’t change in its capacity
to reflect the moon
If impermanence still saddens me
I must be a fool

Translation of   “Fu fu lao gu jing. ” Copyright Yang Jian. By arrangement with the author. Translation copyright 2011 by Fiona Sze-Lorrain. All rights reserved.

English Chinese (Original)

She is old
breasts sagging
like bags of flour
River runs from their hometown
people on two banks
change batch after batch
like summer fireflies
that glow and dim
But the river won’t change in its capacity
to reflect the moon
If impermanence still saddens me
I must be a fool

夫妇老苦经

她老了,

乳房也耷拉下来,

像一口袋面粉。

他们家乡的河水奔流,

两岸的人民

换了一茬又一茬,

像夏天的萤火虫,

一闪一灭的。

而河水映照月亮的能力

不会有什么变化。

如果我再为无常而悲痛,

我就是一个十分愚昧的人。

 

 

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