抓周记

诗人  张执浩

我什么也没有抓过
糖果、 毛笔、 钉锤或钱币
据说, 那天中午
你们把我放进阳光下的簸箕中
让我随心所欲地爬向生活
而我只是呆呆地坐在那里
左顾右盼， 后来才抬头
寻找白昼里的星星
像一个傻子似的
多年以后我年迈的大姐喊我回家
参加她孙女的周岁纪念日
我们重新回味了一遍
记忆里最深处的角落
“总之， 你是两手空空地
爬出簸箕， 摇摇晃晃地扑向了
妈妈的怀抱……”
那是一个多么完整的日子
只有我的记忆是缺失的
阳光灿烂， 空虚的天上
几颗明亮的星星代替我
在另外一个世界津津有味地生活

Zhuazhou, or One-Year-Old Catch

POETRY

by Zhang Zhihao

I did not grab anything
candy, brush pen, hammer, or yuan notes
I was told, on that afternoon
they put me in a winnowing fan in the sun
letting me crawl free towards life
but I only sat there in a daze
looking left and right; after a while I lifted my head
to search for stars in daylight
like a fool does
Many years later my sister asked me to return home 
to attend her granddaughter’s one-year-old catch party
We reminisced one more time
all the nooks and crannies deep in our memories
“Anyway, you were empty-handed
crawling out of the winnowing fan, and tottering towards
the arms of Mother . . .”
What a perfect day that was
with only my memory amnesiac
The sun was bright, and the sky had nothing
but a few stars in lieu of me
living in another world with great gusto

(translated from the Mandarin by Yuemin He)

没有送出去的伞

诗人  张执浩

要下雨了
我独自在家
家中惟一的一把布伞
歪靠在天井一角
我思忖着是否要抢在下雨前把它送出去
爸爸妈妈哥哥姐姐分散在房前屋后
我拿起伞站在屋檐下
乌云在天空中翻卷
过了一会儿就堆积成山，再也不动
风也停了，站稳的树枝上只有蝉鸣声
我走上开阔的土台四处张望
隐约看见他们都分散在房前屋后
我拿定主意把伞送到芝麻地里
姐姐正在地头弯腰锄草
我拿定主意的时候
雨已经落了下来
豆大的雨点把我赶回了家中
撑开的雨伞好几天没有收拢

Umbrella Undelivered

POETRY

by Zhang Zhihao

It’s about to rain
Alone at home
with our only cloth umbrella
lying awry in a corner of the courtyard
I wondered if I should send it out before the rain started
Papa, Mama, Older Bro, and Sis were scattered outside the house
I grabbed the umbrella and stood under the eaves
Dark clouds were tumbling in the sky
and then piling up like a mountain, unable to move
The wind also stopped, only cicadas were chirping on still tree branches
I stepped onto the open platform and looked around
vaguely I saw my family scattered in the front as well as backyard
I decided to take the umbrella to the sesame field
Sis was weeding there, her back bent
By the time I was determined
the rain was already falling 
Bean-sized raindrops forced me home
The umbrella stayed open for days

(translated from the Mandarin by Yuemin He)

松绑

诗人  张执浩

绑在梭子蟹身上的绳索
足足有一米来长
打开时才发现
是一根黄色的布条
从两鳌之间穿过
在八只蟹腿之间
缠来绕去
将蟹身紧紧捆住
我在水龙头下面
给它松绑
蟹眼在转动
滴溜溜的
我看见
布条上印着奇怪的字符
仔细读:
“唵嘛呢呗咪哄……”

Loosening the Ties

POETRY

by Zhang Zhihao

The string that tied the swimming crab
was a good meter long
Untied, it turned out to be
a yellow strip of cloth
passing through the crack of the two pincers 
weaving among the eight walking legs
up and down
and leaving the crab tightly bundled
I held the crab under the water faucet
to release it from bondage
its eyes shifting
around and around
I saw strange
characters printed on the cloth
at close look it’s the mantra:
om mani padme hum

(translated from the Mandarin by Yuemin He)