Avignon

By Bai Hua

Without life, you can’t take stories and details
Avignon, it was the very southernmost limit
it was the grey garment, the gracious old woman...
"after which I was to turn round and proceed back."

Rainy Avignon,  it was raining as it rains, I
had to stay inside, reading by my fire:
"and people had begun to look askance at

the Rhone...  the gardien, who arrived
with a bunch of keys, wiping his mouth."
Avignon, was the memory glorifying it?
or was your breathing sounds like a bell?

Avignon, just someone's scenery or fate!
I think it should be the sound it pronounced-
which under a bright, hard winter sun.

November 20, 2019/ translated by Chen Zihong

The quotation in this poem comes from pp173-177, A Little Tour In France by Henry James, Copyright © 2008, The Pennsylvania State University  -TR.

阿维尼翁

柏桦

没有生活就没有故事和细节
阿维尼翁，关于南方的极限
关于灰长袍、抒情的老太婆……
“到这里以后，我就得掉头。”

阴雨绵绵的阿维尼翁啊，我
足不出户，我在火炉旁读书：
“人们开始以怀疑的目光看

罗讷河了。……看门人擦着
嘴巴，拿着一串钥匙走来了。”
阿维尼翁，是回忆美化了你？
还是你的气息像钟声般传来？

阿维尼翁，是风景还是命运！
让我想想，应该是它的发音——
在冬天明亮而强烈的阳光下。

                        2019年11月20日