Peeking out from the luscious verdancy at the height of
summer
The sunshine reflected from the leaves lightens up the
entire mountain forest
Hiding in the cracks of time, the shadow
Of the sundial’s arm completes its circle
But the length of time it measures no longer carries any
meaning
The courtship chirping of the birds and insects resonates
from heaven and earth
Ancient spells that bind as shackles
Igniting the most beautiful
Me in memory, as I metamorphose into the sorceress of the
mountain’s soul
Out of your words, I sacrifice my self and flee away
The thunderstorm lasts well into the autumn night
Soaking all my clothes red
The newlywed bride’s veil lifts just a little
And she catches a glimpse of the vows scattered everywhere
like maple leaves
Picking them up, putting them down
Cutting out a marvelous tale to put beside the pillow before
going to sleep
Your silhouette reduces the moon to a crescent
Losing sight of your face in profile, I sink
Into a bottomless dream–I
Run like mad from the mouth of chaos towards you, running
and running
Until I suddenly wake up, bathed in sweat from another
phantasmagoria
Befittingly, a game of chase unfolds as we lie intertwined
as clouds and rain
Until the flowering reeds steal our thunder
The heavy mists coiling about the mountaintop
Are now obscuring, now revealing the hazy morning sun
We hear an early bird flapping its wings, dropping a feather
and
Uttering a note that rouses the heavens
In the growing daylight visible through my spread-out fingers
I see
You, an unfettered ghost detached from worldly affairs
Transformed, time and again, into dust and smoke
A spirit whose heart never dies
This mountain forest is your soul, your burial mound, your
funerary object, your
I–now I’ve found the place where I belong
Without the mountain
You are just–that ghost
I am just–that person
Our encounter lasts from the melancholy spring dew
To the moment the flowers burst into blossom
Can’t tell this mountain from that one; fulfilled
And soft, the heavenly fairy is brimming with carefree joy
We are exploring each other, touching but keeping a deliberate
distance
The universe has cleared
A space where the mountain is still the mountain
And we say “good morning” and “good night” to each
other |
季刊索引
