北岛 布拉格

Prague by Matty17art

布拉格 | 北岛

一群乡下蛾子在攻打城市

街灯，幽灵的脸

细长的腿支撑着夜空

有了幽灵，有了历史

地图上未标明的地下矿脉

是布拉格粗大的神经

卡夫卡的童年穿过广场

梦在逃学，梦

是坐在云端的严厉的父亲

有了父亲，有了继承权

一只耗子在皇宫的走廊漫步

影子的侍从前簇后拥

从世纪大门出发的轻便马车

途中变成了坦克

真理在选择它的敌人

有了真理，有了遗忘

醉汉如雄蕊在风中摇晃

抖落了尘土的咒语

越过伏尔塔瓦河上时间的

桥，进入耀眼的白天

古老的雕像们充满敌意

有了敌意，有了荣耀

小贩神秘地摊开一块丝绒

请买珍珠聚集的好天气

Prague

(TRANSLATED BY Clayton Eshleman & Lucas Klein)

Swarming country moths assault the city

street lamps, spectral faces

long, slender legs holding up the night sky

There are specters, there is history

unmarked on the map a subterranean vein

is the thick nerve of Prague

Kafka's youth passed through the square

dreams are cutting class, dreams

are the stern father sitting in the clouds

There is a father, there are rights of inheritance

a rat is wandering the palace halls

attendants in the shadows a bustling entourage

A carriage setting out from the century's gate

turns into a tank midway

truth is selecting its enemies

There is truth, there is forgetting

a drunk quivering like a stamen in the breeze

shaking off the curse of dust

Traversing the bridge of time over the Vltava

River, entering the daylit glare

the ancient statues are full of enmity

There is enmity, there is splendor

a vendor mysteriously unfolds a swatch of velvet

please purchase this fine weather gathered by pearls.

— FORTHCOMING IN BEI DAO'S NEW BOOK

Endure (Black Widow Press, 2011)