Poems by Bei Ta
Bei Ta, whose real name is Xu Weifeng, born in Suzhou City, P. R. China in 1969.Graduated in English Literature and M.A in Comparative Literature.He taught in Beijing Institute of Technology and now in National Museum of Modern Chinese Literature as a professional poet, critic and translator as well as in Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.He is the Vice Secretary-General of World Congress of Poets and the vice president of World Chinese Poetry Society also the general secretary of Chinese Shakespeare Research Society and honored professor of a few universities.He had organized and participated in various activities of poetry, home and abroad.His poems have been translated into more than 10 foreign languages.He had published some academic works and a lot of literary and academic translations.He has been the editor-in-chief and main translator of the yearly Selection of Chinese Poetry (both in Chinese and English) since 2011.
The Bosket in Early Winter
The bosket in early winter
Has been cut into two halves by the wide road
Leaves are inlayed
Into the ice layer of the depth of ditch
Broken twigs fall on the roadside
Yearning for the last year’s ax
Flowers have lowered the curtain
While fruits have not yet begun
Wings have been deprived of the blue sky
Limbs have been deprived of mother earth
The stone can’t straighten their backs in the dust
The sparrow seeking for food break its head
Rose is still called rose
Yet except for the word, nothing exists
POHON BOSKET DI AWAL MUSIM SEJUK
Pohon-pohon Bosket di awal musim sejuk
Terbahagi dua oleh lebarnya jalan raya
Daun yang gugur bertimbun
Berlapis di bawah ais di dasar parit
Ranting yang patah jatuh bertaburan di tepi jalan
Merindukan potongan kapak tahun lalu
Bunga-bunga telah melabuhkan tirai pemandangan
Sedangkan buah-buah belum keluar
Ranting-ranting tidak lagi menghiasi langit biru
Dahan-dahan tidak lagi melatari muka bumi
Batu-batan tidak dapat dilihat jelas dalam debu tebal
Burung pipit yang sedang mencari makan
Terpecah kepalanya bila mematuk
Mawar masih tetap mawar namanya
Tapi itu sahaja yang tinggal kerna yang lainnya tidak lagi wujud.
The Solitary Sea
When the heaven as cloistral as him sets free the sun
And sprinkles sea-gulls
How many catering billows does he lift
However, even if he unites with the heaven
They cannot share the synchronous heartbeats
Loneliness is reproduced like fishes and shrimps
How he wishes the ships all over the world could be fishers
And the people all over the world could be fishermen
He dislikes “ lazy” fishermen who work from dawn to dusk
And hates to see the “ tiny” fishers like gluttons
Sometimes he can hardly tolerate it
And draws the fishers and fishermen as a whole
Into his own arms where there are no nets
However, loneliness is increasing rather than decreasing
Like volcanoes, like corals
When he abreacts it
There appear hurricane and tsunami
The effeminate stars and moon
Can only make his solitude more deep and vast
He is wont to lead along the tide
Along the beach under the moonshine and rove all the night
More often, he could only
Consider himself as a plaything
And fling himself at the rocks repeatedly
Yet draw himself back once and again
This ceaseless desperate toying
Has had the rocks broken into sands
Then he flings himself at the sands
And dumbly gathers the sands into rocks
LAUT YANG KESEPIAN
Ketika kayangan terkurung sepertinya membebaskan mentari
Dan menebarkan burung camar
Entah berapa banyak ombak besar yang dijulang oleh laut itu
Dan kalau dia bersatu dengan kayangan sekali pun
Mereka tidak boleh berkongsi hembusan nafas yang senada
Kesunyian laut lahir semula seperti ikan dan udang
Dia menginginkan semua kapal menjadi ikan
Dan semua orang menjadi nelayan
Dia bencikan nelayan malas yang bekerja dari subuh hingga senja
Dan bencikan ikan-ikan kecil menjadi tamak
Kadang-kadang dia tidak dapat menahan kesabaran dengan perangai begitu
Lalu menangkap semua ikan dan nelayan sekali
Ke dalam dakapannya tanpa sebarang jala
Tapi kesunyian laut semakin melanda, bukan semakin reda
Seperti yang dialami gunung berapi, juga terumbu
Bila dia memberi riaksi
Timbullah taufan dan tsunami
Bintang dan bulan yang lemah lembut sifatnya
Hanya menjadikan keterasingannya semakin mendalam dan besar
Dia tak mahu mengepalai
Sepanjang pantai di bawah sinar cahaya bulan dan terus mengayuh semalaman
Selalunya dia hanya
Mengira dirinya sebagai bahan mainan
Yang dilontar ke batu batan berkali-kali
Tapi bangun lagi dan sekali lagi
Permainan putus asa laut ini tak berhenti
Menyebabkan batu-batan hancur menjadi pasir
Kemudian dia pun melemparkan dirinya ke pasir tersebut
Dan seperti si bodoh dia mengumpalkan pasir tersebut kembali menjadi batu.
Translated into BAHASA MELAYU by Siti Ruqaiyah HASHIM
FROM: NEWS FROM STRASBOURG ANTHOLOGY.