Sidetracks XIII
By Bei Dao
Translated by Jeffrey Yang
another boy pieces together a map of the world
there is another sort of color to language
I drink another cup of wine with my shadow
with my lover share another bed out to sea
cold currents reach another harbor
my hands let fly another letter
Oslo Stockholm
Aarhus Copenhagen
under the ever-shifting Scandinavian skies
looking for another sun
to taste a little sugar or salt or arsenic
the ceaseless chatter of the snow is a tyrant’s promises
Poul Borum, my judge
escorts me—misfortune’s shadow
who looks for a happy scarecrow
on poetry’s ancient map
both of us squeeze tightly into the elevator
descend but no inferno awaits us
in a French restaurant in Copenhagen
a waiter reserves another sunrise
opens up red-wine sunlight underground
cigars like locomotives
a huge metal earring dangles from Poul’s right lobe
twinkling twinkling through the fog in a dream
yes, I’ve fallen asleep
at the distance from a desk or the Mainland
insomnia is another measure of eternity
the mirror reflects the master of homesickness
Chinese—northern lights in exile
a rooster practices breaking dawn
scale the heights of drinking
lightning leads to the ancestors of the tree roots
let firewood declare its impoverished blaze
what is witnessed is the passion of destruction
write the first line on white paper
the snows a spiritual leader on strike
Aarhus is another birthplace
every day fate knocks on my door
take a walk turn around after that tree
patients wait for the sun to rise
one after another leave empty chairs on the beach
April 4, 1990
I stay overnight at the blue house
Tomas Tranströmer plays the Baltic Sea
the black keys he presses down make no sound
an owl calls through the night
and meets another sleepwalker
the new century adds another morning
Tomas takes me mushrooming
it’s raining he leads the way through the forest
uses a small military knife to scoop out the fruiting fungus
swiftly spits some out: poisonous
Translated from the Chinese
