Siam, Evoking Memories

By Bai Hua

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

   ——W.B.Yeats  "THE STOLEN CHILD"

 It was a baffling toy elephant……
 If children leaving their toys,
The poet goes away from home.
   ——Bai Hua

It's good to be young,
he falls asleep instantly, once lying down
In the very middle age,
also good to wake up from quivering a bit

Nothing exotic about it,
and no need to say that I saw any Anon Fish
Anyway I have reached manhood
but can't remember what my parents look like ......

(Then can you remember what happened when two years old? The day you disappeared ......)

The toddler sleeping soundly in hot summer air,
he remembers a toy elephant
sliding down his hand

However, the afternoon!

Such time, it suddenly became cool
one uphill, downhill another--
Forest! Forest! Forest!
Finally,  I only remember the forest appeared ......

English tr. by Chen Zihong

暹罗的回忆

柏桦

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.
——W. B. Yeats  "THE STOLEN CHILD"

谜一般的玩具象……
儿童一离开玩具，
诗人就离开了家。
  ——柏桦

年轻真好，
头一碰枕头就睡着了
中年时节，
一个激灵便醒过来，亦好

事情有什么好奇怪呢，
别说见到了什么安暖鱼
反正我已长大成人
只是我记不得我的父母了……

（那你还记得两岁的事吗？失踪那天……）

那幼儿在夏天的热风中浓睡，
他记得有一个玩具象
从他手上掉落

还有！下午！

下午，突然变阴凉了，
一个下坡，一个上坡——
森林！森林！森林！
后来我就只记得森林出现了……

（注释一：“安暖鱼”（Anon Fish），一种神话生物。）

2016年9月15日