Two Poems by Ma Yongbo

Under a Pine

 

A lone pine, pebble path,wet grass

a wood stool covered by pine needles and dew drops 

dry with tissue, again wind shakes off 

a small puddle,just lie on the bench

have a meeting,discussing serious topics 

and love of course,"the measure of humanity"

sunlight slides down the hump back of a bird

honey dripping from beehives

what should we concern about

regrets of yesterday or fears of tomorrow

rot like a hatchet handle,recover

shade falling on the eyelids,on the faraway mount road

the man knocking at stones was once knocking at chess pieces

The wind through pine brings fragrance of rosin

Just have a dream and then

wake up to find a life has been wasted.

□

 

Butterflies

 

A lonesome butterfly in the mountain, tenderly thin

falls on the gravel path like a piece of cool rain

spreads the black wings,soundlessly glides through

sunlight and showers,into darker woods

they once fell onto the reddish dregs of my wine

whether we have been here before 

to gather the butterflies in the empty alley

contain their delicate cries in transparent bottle

they are flying again,mixed with a few moths

always the same black butterfly

fleeting over pinetops,dragging golden threads of sunlight

finally falls with stones into the valley

its sound of hiting the ground is never heard

After the flight of butterflies

we are no longer where we were.

□

© Ma Yongbo 

Nanjing, China 

myb22254188@gmail.com

Ma Yongbo was born in 1964, PhD, representative of Chinese avant-garde poetry, translator, editor, and leading scholar of postmodern poetry. He has authored or translated more than 70 published books. Ma is a professor in the Faculty of Arts and Literature at Nanjing University of Science and Technology. His translations from English include works by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, W. C. Williams, John Ashbery, Henry James, Herman Melville, May Sarton and others.