Crossing Half of China to Sleep With You
To sleep with you or to be slept, what’s the difference if there’s any?
Two bodies collide — the force, the flower pushed open by the force,
the virtual spring in the flowering — nothing more than this,
and this we mistake as life restarting.
In half of China, things are happening: volcanoes
erupting, rivers running dry,
political prisoners and displaced workers abandoned,
elk deer and red-crowned cranes shot.
I cross the hail of bullets to sleep with you.
I squeeze many nights into one morning to sleep with you.
I run across many of me and many of me run into one to sleep with you.
Of course I can be misled by butterflies
and mistake praise as spring,
a village similar to Hengdian as home.
But all these are absolutely indispensable reasons that I sleep
with you.
by Yu Xiuhua
fromPoetry International Web
.
Original Chinese click Continue Reading:
穿过大半个中国去睡你
其实，睡你和被你睡是差不多的，无非是
两具肉体碰撞的力，无非是这力催开的花朵
无非是这花朵虚拟出的春天让我们误以为生命被重新打开
大半个中国，什么都在发生：火山在喷，河流在枯
一些不被关心的政治犯和流民
一路在枪口的麋鹿和丹顶鹤
我是穿过枪林弹雨去睡你
我是把无数的黑夜摁进一个黎明去睡你
我是无数个我奔跑成一个我去睡你
当然我也会被一些蝴蝶带入歧途
把一些赞美当成春天
把一个和横店类似的村庄当成故乡
而它们
都是我去睡你必不可少的理由