Poet and the poems¹
詩人與詩
TAIWAN
國立中正大學中國文學博士。曾獲獎若干,著有《國語》、《軌道上奔馳的時光》、《注音》、《詩/畫:對話》、《拼貼:馬來西亞》等十五部詩集;《月光照不回的路》、《家國之幻》等六本散文集;《中國現代小說的國族書寫--以身體隱喻為觀察核心》等四本學術論文專著;主編 《時代、典律、本土性:馬華現代詩國際學術研討會論文集》等六部。
Sen Kim Soon
辛金順
臺灣
Ini kaca, this is glass; Itu batu
That is a rock
Rock breaking glass
Sounds like waking up from a dream, a crispy clear cry
At a receding figure escaping from home
The Mandarin here makes the tongue forget
The sound of the monsoon winds over the river in a
Southern Sumatran town
Forget the nickname of
The childhood friend that ran wild back home
This is Ya Sih-Min, not
The Yasmin. The lips and the tip of the tongue have to
Behave
Don't eat with your hands, don't
Use your mother tongue
To say things people don't understand
Ini mata, this is an eye; Itu mulut
That is a mouth
Thus the dream often locks within the heart
What the mouth wants to say
And ties rebars
In the city center, hauling concrete and bricks
And tears
And sweats and looks toward home
Alongside the scaffold on the fifteenth floor
It, too, hauls its own lonely figure under crude
Windows where the lights
Can't reach, looking at the shining windows in every building
Within each
A happy family nests
Do not fear the heavy eaves that bear down upon
The low, low self-esteem
Language will get you out of the strange land's basin, but
You must speak Mandarin
To be able to find yourself here
However, where is Yasmin? Ya Sih-Min
Cannot name her cowardly self
In Mandarin. On the rougher and
Rougher palm prints
Destiny awaits another great escape
Ini rumah, this is a house; Itu Keluarga
That is family
Distant voices come out of the cell phone, children calling out
From far away: "Papa, papa"
Through the Dream Mall, the childish cries disappear
Among the vast dark night along the Love River
In the end, Ya Sih-Min and Yasmin crouch down together
Use their shadows to measure
Homesickness, and write down, in someone else's language:
"I miss home. A lot."
Translated by Yok-Him Devn
Language Lessons for Migrant Workers
Ini kaca,這是玻璃;Itu batu
那是石頭
石頭敲碎了玻璃
像夢醒來的聲音,清亮的叫喚
從故鄉逃走的背影
這裡的mandarin,讓舌頭遺忘了
蘇門答臘南方
小鎮的季候風輕輕吹過河流的聲音
遺忘了童伴
追趕那奔跑在故鄉裡野放的小名
這是亞思敏,不是
那個Yasmin, 舌尖和唇要懂得
禮貌
不可以用手吃飯,不可以
用母語
說別人聽不懂的話
Ini mata,這是眼睛;Itu mulut
那是嘴巴
因此夢卻常常把嘴巴裡的話
鎖在心上
並紮起鋼筋
在城市的中心,搬運水泥和磚塊
和淚水
和汗,與十五樓的鷹架一起翹望
家的方向
也搬運自己孤獨的身影,在燈火
照不到簡陋的
窗下,看每棟大樓燦亮的窗口
都有一個
又一個幸福的家
不要害怕,屋簷沉重壓到低低
低低自卑的心理
語言會帶你走出異鄉的盆地,但是
要說mandarin
才能在這裡找到你自己
然而Yasmin去了哪裡?亞思敏
用華語
叫不出怯懦的自己,在越來越
粗礪的掌紋上
命運在等待另一次偉大的逃亡
Ini rumah,這是房子;Itu Keluarga
那是家人
手機裡牽著遙遠的聲音,孩子遙遠的
叫:Papa,Papa
穿過夢時代,幼稚的呼喊卻消失在
愛河岸邊茫茫的夜暗
最後,亞思敏和Yasmin一起蹲下
用影子丈量
鄉愁,並在別人的語言裡,寫下:
「我,很想家」