“Where Does the Narrative as Light as a Zephyr Come From,” a poem in Chinese by Yan An, translated by Chen Du and Xisheng Chen

Where Does the Narrative as Light as a Zephyr Come From

by Yan An

Having removed the plough from the earth

He was cruelly flogged in the mountains by his father’s thorns

On the hill gently flitted by the glare of the scorching sun

Compared to the stones burned black, father’s palms

Are more vicious and scheming

Before starting as a porcelain-firing master worker

He used to work as a raw brick maker

At a secret illegal brick factory

And then a coal-filling man in a machinery plant for a while

Adding coal to a colossal steel furnace

And controlling the duration and degree of heating

He once boiled down and dried nine rivers in the fire

Year in, year out

Only he knows the secret of the disappearance of the nine rivers

When nine giant dragons repeatedly appear in his dreams

And start to romp with nine phoenixes as well as with him

As the narrator    he has determined the way

To narrate about his father as well as about himself

——A way as light as a zephyr 

The way things disappear as simply as a puff of smoke does

(poem translated from the original Chinese by Chen Du and Xisheng Chen)

风一样轻的叙述从何而来

把犁铧从大地上移开

他曾被父亲的荆条在山上毒打

在烈日光焰轻掠的山上

父亲的手掌比烧成黑色的石块

更毒辣    更有心计

在开始成为一个烧瓷师傅之前

他曾做过黑砖厂的制坯伙计

也曾在机械厂干过一阵子填煤工

给巨大的钢炉中加煤

把握火候的力量

他曾在火中熬干九条河流

年复一年

只有他知道九条大河消逝的秘密

当九条大龙在他的梦中反复出现

当梦中的九条大龙开始与九只凤凰嬉戏

也开始与他嬉戏

作为讲述者    他从此确定了讲述父亲

也讲述自己的方式

——风一样轻而又轻
和事物消失时烟雾一样简洁的方式

Yan An is one of the most famous poets in contemporary China. He has authored fourteen poetry books, including his most famous poetry book, Rock Arrangement, which won him The Sixth Lu Xun Literary Prize, one of China's top four literary prizes. He is the winner of various national awards and the Vice President of Shaanxi Writers Association, the head and Executive Editor-in-Chief of Yan River, one of the oldest and most famous literary journals in Northwestern China. In addition, he is a member of the Poetry Committee of the China Writers Association. His poetry book A Naturalist's Manor, translated by Chen Du and Xisheng Chen, was published by Chax Press.

Xisheng Chen, a Chinese American, is an ESL grammarian, lexicologist, linguist, translator, and educator. He has an MA from Fudan University, Shanghai, China, and a Mandarin Healthcare Interpreter Certificate from the City College of San Francisco, CA, USA. His working history includes a translator for Shanghai TV Station, Evening English News, Lecturer at Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China, Adjunct Professor at the Departments of English and Social Sciences of Trine University (formerly Tri-State University), Angola, Indiana, notary public, and contract high-tech translator for Futurewei Technologies, Inc. in Santa Clara, California, USA. As a translator for over three decades, he has published many translations in various fields in newspapers and journals in China and abroad. 

Chen Du has a Master's Degree in Biophysics from SUNY at Buffalo and another from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her translations have appeared in Columbia Journal, Lunch Ticket, and elsewhere. A set of three poems co-translated by her and Xisheng Chen was one of six finalists in the 2020 Gabo Prize for Literature in Translation & Multilingual Texts. She was longlisted by the 2021 John Dryden Translation Competition with Xisheng Chen for The World's Ten Portraits (from "Rock Arrangement") from Yan An. A set of five poems written by Yan An and co-translated by her and Xisheng Chen won the 2021 Zach Doss Friends in Letters Memorial Fellowship. Yan An's poetry book, A Naturalist's Manor, translated by her and Xisheng Chen, was published by Chax Press. She is also the author of the book Successful Personal Statements. Find her online at ofsea.com.