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Poetry

Your Dog

Translated from Chinese
A dog learns to run forward with a lighter in its mouth

a dog lives
it’s your shadow

it learns about life
learns to go to toilets
learns to run forward with a lighter in its mouth
once you take out a cigarette
not only does it run forward with a lighter in its mouth
it tugs your sock too and runs about
like you’ve been everywhere

it barks at the mirror
full of fear
when you fart it straightens its ears
you go to the washroom, it rummages behind the toilet bowl
you write, it’ll knock out some nonsense
on the keyboard

a living dog
it’s lonely, covered with dust it follows you
a living dog
at best an imagination
is a mad man’s fiction

a man who suddenly can’t see his shadow
will be more fearful than a dog

today, a dog that has yet to learn more
dies, the dog is dead
why do so many people live
with hearts full of guilt  

“Ni de gou” © Yu Xiang. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2011 by Fiona Sze-Lorrain. All rights reserved.

English Chinese (Original)

a dog lives
it’s your shadow

it learns about life
learns to go to toilets
learns to run forward with a lighter in its mouth
once you take out a cigarette
not only does it run forward with a lighter in its mouth
it tugs your sock too and runs about
like you’ve been everywhere

it barks at the mirror
full of fear
when you fart it straightens its ears
you go to the washroom, it rummages behind the toilet bowl
you write, it’ll knock out some nonsense
on the keyboard

a living dog
it’s lonely, covered with dust it follows you
a living dog
at best an imagination
is a mad man’s fiction

a man who suddenly can’t see his shadow
will be more fearful than a dog

today, a dog that has yet to learn more
dies, the dog is dead
why do so many people live
with hearts full of guilt  

“Ni de gou” © Yu Xiang. By arrangement with the author. Translation © 2011 by Fiona Sze-Lorrain. All rights reserved.

你的狗

一条狗活着

它是你的影子

 

它学习生活

学会上厕所

学会在你拿出烟的时候

叼着打火机跑过去

它不只叼着打火机跑过去

它还叼着你的袜子到处跑

好像你哪里都去过

 

它对着镜子吼叫

充满惊恐

你放屁时它竖起耳朵

你进洗手间,它钻到马桶的后面

你写字,它就在键盘上

敲下一些胡言乱语

 

一条活着的狗

它孤单,一身灰土跟着你

一条活着的狗

充其量是一个想像

是一个精神错乱的人的虚构

 

一个人突然看不见自己的影子

会比一条狗更惊恐

 

今天,一条狗还没有学会更多

就死了。狗死了

为什么那么多人活着

内心充满愧疚

<em>© Yu Xiang</em>