ON THE ROAD

Bei Dao 北岛 (b. 1959)

translated by Jonathan Chan 陈

超义

july. an abandoned quarry. a slanting wind and fifty paper sparrowhawks pass by. the people kneeling toward the ocean give up a thousand-year war.

i adjust for the time difference and through my life i pass.

shouts of freedom, the sound of golden sand comes from the water. restless infants kick the abdomen, their mouths full of tobacco, their mother’s heads trapped in thick fog.

i adjust for the time difference and through my life i pass.

this city is migrating. hotels, big and small, line up against the rails. straw hats rotate on the heads of their guests. somehow, others begin to shoot.

i adjust for the time difference and through my life i pass.

bees form into groups, swarms chasing wanderers, drifting flower gardens, singers, and the blind, doubled brightness used to stir the sky, i adjust for the time difference and through my life i pass. covering a map of death, a destination is a drop of blood. lucid stones are underneath my feet. i have already forgotten about them.

馆排在铁轨上 游客们的草帽转动 有⼈向他们射击 我调整时差 于是我穿过我的 ⽣ 蜜蜂成群结队 追逐着流浪者飘移的花园 歌⼿与盲⼈ ⽤双重光辉激荡夜空 我调整时差 于是我穿过我的 ⽣ 覆盖死亡的地图上 终点是 滴⾎ 清醒的⽯头在我的脚下 被我遗忘