Letter from River South

By Bai Hua

Always ten miles spring breeze blows, but only a lamp next to autumn rain
Who came to see Du Mu to climb the pavilion, the very man is a German
The world is in chaos,  even the State of Officialdom won't help. Look,
the rich Boche was still making the Soviets just pissed off.

We can think of eating as a play for dispelling melancholy,
Delicious his food was, and unforgettable his poems, a Hong Kong poet
asked an Irish one，how ever, the Nazi was what kind of imagery？
Eczema per se is likely to be a feminized disease ...

That winter, Shanghai countryside, I stood by a dung vat and clamped muckworms
with chopsticks to prevent maggots from changing into flies when spring arrives
Alas, with spiritual life, he needn't be a worldly patcher for brave world
Would a salt worker mourn something? A pound of opium! It workes through.

So how should we express our concern for our friends?
Chinese have a typical concern: "Drink water a bit more!"

July 30, 2016/ translated by Chen Zihong

translator's note:
line 2:  the German refers to Sinologist Wolfgang Kubin, who studied Du Mu at university in his youth and wrote a doctoral thesis on Du Mu.
line 9,10: it refers to Lu Gu-sun (1940-2016), Professor of English at Fudan University

江南来信

柏桦

春风总是十里，秋雨只有一灯
看杜牧登楼的人却偏偏来自德国
世界乱得很，官国也没用，这不，
富有的德国还在让苏维埃生闷气。

吃饭也可以看着是种玩耍消愁哩，
吃得香香，写得朗朗，某香港诗人
问爱尔兰诗人，纳粹是个什么意象？
湿疹倒有可能是一种女性化的病……

为防止开春后蛆变苍蝇，冬天
我到上海乡下粪缸边用筷子夹蛆
唉，游仙人何必非补晴天缺陷呢
煮盐人哪来哀伤？半斤烟土搞定。

那应该怎样对友人表达关切呢？
中国人会教你一招：“多喝水！”

注释一：“看杜牧登楼的人却偏偏来自德国”，在此指德国汉学家顾彬，他青年时代曾在大学研究杜牧，并写出了有关杜牧的博士论文。
注释二：“官国”是契诃夫对俄罗斯的典型形象指认，他曾说过：“俄罗斯是一个官国。”
注释三：第三节头两行来源：从微博读到复旦大学英语系教授陆谷孙（1940-2016）一篇回忆文章：《身在丝绒樊笼，心有精神家园》（陆谷孙口述，金雯整理），其中一个情节让我十分吃惊：“大冷天跑到江湾乡间的粪缸旁边，用筷子夹蛆，这是为了防止开春后蛆变苍蝇。”
注释四：解释一下此诗最后一节：中国人只要发现自己的朋友身体不好，为表达关切之情，就最喜欢对朋友说一句口头禅：“平时要多喝水。”似乎喝水可以包治百病。

2016年7月30日