In a Foreign Land
Ten volcanoes in sleep. Nice
that you are by my side
From all corners, pitter-patter
goes the rain, in solitude and in crowds
Doors are locking themselves out
We search, in doors’ fickleness, and
in whisper of bed and foreign land
I come, from the isolated shore
with no volcanoes, like black poppies
lying on the coast
But beacon’s light never dies
Nice that you wait for me at night
On the window, heavy rainfalls
Lighter are my footsteps
They left no trails
Apollo’s window, Dionysus’ bed
Hydrangea shakes wavy hair
with hue that children shall possess
The old deserted inns, the strange dreams
The wars, quakes, and broken coffee beans
They are the outdated, the past, so
nice poses of eyes, the lightning eyes
and volcanoes’ belly tyre
to rain that plays all night
— Translated from In Between(之間) by Chen Yuhong (陳育虹)
I worked on the translation last year when I was working with a creative writing poetry translation workshop in NTU; the workshop was led by Pangolin House editors George O’Connell and Diana Shi. We worked on the translation of Taiwan poets and would make an anthology afterward.
This piece was not further discussed and rendered by the workshop at the time, so I refined and published it here under my own name.
For works that are collectively discussed, rendered and published, you’re welcome to have a look at the journal Pangolin House. More works will be published soon, so stay tuned!
異邦
十座火山都已經安睡
這是最好的情況你在我身邊
前後 左右 上下
雨聲嘩嘩響得幽寂這擁擠的雨
一重重反鎖的門
我們在門的張馳在床與異邦言語的
陌生中摸索
我從斷訊的海岸來
那裡沒有火山彷彿黑色罌粟
不熄的燈塔
這是最好的情勢在夜晚你等我
我的腳步比雨滴更輕更透
不會遺落窗下
窗是阿波羅的但床屬於戴奧尼索斯
荒廢的旅店繡球花搖晃它們
孩童般的捲髮姹紫嫣紅
不合理的夢
內戰與地震與磨碎的咖啡豆
都過去了過期了所以
這是最好的姿勢
眼睛和閃電的眼睛小腹和火山的小腹
連夜的雨以及屋簷傾斜的
回答
—選自陳育虹《之間》
我在國立台灣大學的《創意翻譯工作坊：臺灣當代詩歌之英譯》課程中開始翻譯詩的旅程。我的老師喬直（George O’Connell ）和史春波（Diana Shi）同時也有自己的journal Pangoline House，若有興趣看老師們或是工作坊中的其他作品，歡迎參觀。
這篇作品因為後續沒有在課堂選入討論，在徵得老師同意之後，我自行編輯潤稿，並發佈到個人部落格上。
