The Snail Farm Weekend

Hu Ma

Across Sawtooth Stream, at end of the farm track
The Snail stretched out its tentacles and greeted
the arrival of the whole family with pond and terraces
"There have to be dew and songs of insects." It's his
daughter's weekend gift that he promised in January:
God gives her leopard prints and brands butterflies
she can observe it, but she can't play with fire;
a sheep ate the alfalfa and occasionally looked up
wondering the jealousy in their eyes coming from haze;
The tea-picking period had passed. Carrying the basket,
she wanted to be a tea-picker, run into the tea garden...
Per se, but it's all just an interlude.
Blueberries are ripe, and young couples find farming life
really a straightforward romantic theme to show off.
Sunlight gives the fruits a blue flame. Spacing
between the plants can accommodate his lung capacity.
Standing on the ridge,  he tasted a fruit
it has a not-so-sweet taste, not the same sweet, flavorful,
full-shaped fruit that we bought at a supermarket
It seems that the last few days of sunshine never be given
At night, he dreamed of his hometown two hundred miles away
his daughter just holding him and walking on a pine needle
as if she holding a blind man to dance on God's eyelashes
they threw blueberries into the sky as they climbed
Such black fruit that was once dedicated to emperors
in Mount Micang, it burned on cowberry trees.

English tr. by Chen Zihong

在蜗牛农场过周末

胡马

跨过锯齿溪，在机耕道尽头
蜗牛农场伸开了触角，用池塘
和梯田迎接他们一家的到来。
“必须有露水和虫鸣。”这是他
年初就许诺给女儿的周末礼物：
上帝给她的豹纹，烙在蝴蝶身上
她可以观察，却不可以玩火；
羊在低头吃苜蓿，偶尔抬头
揣摩他们眼中源自雾霾的妒意；
过了采摘期，她仍然闯入茶园
提着篮子，一心想当采茶工……
但，这一切都只是插曲。
蓝莓熟了，年轻情侣们发现
农耕生活可堪夸耀的浪漫主题。
日光赋予那些果实以蓝色火焰，
植株的行间距容得下他的肺活量。
站在田垄上，他尝了一枚
很淡，远没有超市卖的那么
甜美、可口，且颗粒饱满
离成熟似乎永远还差最后几天日照。
夜里，他梦见六百里外的老家
女儿牵着他在松针上散步像牵着
一位盲人在上帝睫毛上跳舞。
他们一边攀登一边向天空抛蓝莓
那些黑色的贡果
曾在米仓山的越橘树上燃烧。

胡马：诗人，原名胡君，现居成都