The Moon in the River

月河

傍著靜靜的恆河走 靜靜的恆河之月傍著我走── 我是恆河的影子 靜靜的恆河之月是我的影子。

曾與河聲吞吐而上下 亦偕月影婆娑而明滅； 在無終亦無始的長流上 在旋轉復旋轉的虛空中。

天上的月何如水中的月？ 水中的月何如夢中的月？ 月入千水 水含千月 哪一月是你？ 哪一月是我？

說水與月與我是從 荒遠的，沒有來處的來處來的 那來處：沒有來處的來處的來處 又從哪裡來的？

想著月的照，水的流，我的走 總由他而非由自── 已眼為帆足為槳，我欲背著月逆水而上 直入恆河第一沙未生時。

（選自《十三朵白菊花》）

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 ，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。

In serenity I walked along the river Ganges The moon in the stream walked along by my side. I become the shadow of stream and the moon becomes that of mine.

We flow with the splash of stream and twinkle with dance of shadow We drift in the endless stream and the nothingness spinning

Is the moon still moon in the sky or in the stream? in the river, or in our dream? Into the waters the moon dives Under the moons river lies Which moon is you, and which is I?

If River, Moon and I come from the distant void, the no- where. Then from where does the nowhere approach?

The moon shines, the river runs, and I walk None of us control. Sail with eyes, paddle with feet, I wish to go against the current have the moon on my back to go where the first dust has yet been born.

— translated from the poetry anthology 13 White Chrysanthemums

This is the most difficult piece to translate so far. Chou Meng Tieh’s pieces contain a special cultural context and format that make it hard to render in English. I think I did nice while translating Under the Bodhi Tree, but this one is a bigger challenge for me. Hope you still enjoy. Any feedback will be welcome too.

If you like the piece, you might also like Under the Bodhi Tree, also written by Chou Meng Tieh.

I worked on the translation last year when I was working with creative writing poetry translation workshop in NTU; the workshop was led by editors George O’Connell and Diana Shi. 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 .