廣告
有這樣一則廣告:
心房出租
地點適中
有意租賃者
請在十五的夜晚
向明月詢問
月亮圓了又缺
心房，下著霏霏細雨
租金昂貴不是原因
空間太小
容納不了幾樁往事
開門關門
總被酸甜苦辣堵住
以致一空
便空了多年
墻坍倒，瓦碎裂
心房，漸漸陳舊
裝修或重修
待來世再進行吧
2008年1月《新華文學》第68期
Vacancy
An advert reads:
Heart for rent,
Good location.
Any interested parties,
on the 15th lunar night, please
direct your inquiries to the full moon.
The moon waxes and wanes.
Within the heart, a constant drizzle—
Not because the rent is too high—
The space is too small
To accommodate the past.
The door opens and closes
Snagged on life’s joys and sorrows
Such that once empty
Is empty for years
Walls crumble, tiles crack
Slowly, the heart falls into neglect.
Renovations or restorations
Will have to wait till the next life.
AD
There's an ad that reads:
Heart for rent
Fairly good location
Anyone who's interested
Please, on the 15th night of the lunar month
Direct your inquiries to the full moon
The moon waxes and wanes
In the heart chamber, it's drizzling
Not because the rent is too high—
The space is too small
It can't fit many memories in
The door opens and closes
Jammed constantly by the vicissitudes of life
Such that once the chamber is empty
It's empty for many years
Walls collapse, tiles crack
The heart chamber becomes obsolete gradually
A renovation or a restoration
Shall have to wait till next life to embark on
The poem by an influential Chinese woman writer, is a playful take on the heart as an open place for rental, either for love or for pain. There are references in it to ideas peculiar to Chinese culture and tradition, and the translation workshop focused on understanding how to render these in English without losing too much. One of them is the idea of a lunar month and the importance of the full moon on the fifteenth. The guide translation by Christina Ng helped situate the work in a familiar space. The presence of the guide translator at the workshop was also helpful in keeping us within the author’s intended parameters. In the end, the result is a work that keeps a lot of the sublimity of the original, while presenting something new and delightful.
Notes on Translation by Kọ́lá Tubosun