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Moving People With Words

Poems on the MRT

云 / Clouds by Henry Low Swee Kim

 

城市和自然短诗七首
刘瑞金

鸟
我看见市集上有人
站立着讨价还价

我也看见天空中有一只飞鸟
飞过堆积成群的人
快乐歌唱

云
有时候我想
每个人心中应该有两朵云
一朵如常放晴
一朵偶尔下雨

诗人的心
诗人把心都给了诗
诗却把诗人的心
囫囵吞噬

诗人在把心写成诗的时候
诗人的心
最
痛

天桥
我走在天桥上面
天桥躺卧在我脚底之下
或者支撑着我
或者任我践踏

我在凝视天桥
天桥与我之间
究竟谁
比较像谁

车站
车站里站着人
我坐在车上
车站里尽情热闹
车厢里尽是冷清

我在想
是因为车站热闹
车厢所以冷清
还是因为车厢冷清
车站所以热闹

下午茶
选择吃
或不吃

小汤匙可以
折腾
整个下午

不顾
海上怎么会有风呢?
群蚁在岩石上忙忙碌碌

天空上怎么会有云呢?

风在助长海潮
拍打岩石
席卷

群蚁竞相逃亡


Clouds
Written by Henry Low Swee Kim
Translated by Shelly Bryant

Bird
I see people in the marketplace
standing, haggling back and forth


and I see a bird in the sky

flying past the crowd

singing joyfully

Clouds
sometimes I think

everyone should have two clouds in their hearts

one that clears up as usual

and one that rains occasionally

The Poet’s Heart
the poet gives his whole heart to the poem

the poem polishes off the poet’s heart

in one gulp

when the poet writes his heart into poetry

that is when the poet’s heart


hurts


most

The Overpass
I walk on the overpass

the overpass lies beneath my feet

supporting me

or allowing me to trample it

I stare at the overpass –

between the overpass and me

which of us

is more like the other?

The Station
there are people standing in the station

I sit inside the train

the station bustles with activity
but in the carriage, silence

I wonder

is the carriage cold and quiet because the station is so warm

or is the station warm and shrinking 

because the carriage is so cold and cheerless

Afternoon Tea

to eat

or not to eat

a small spoon

can

stir up

a whole afternoon

Regardless

how could there be wind on the sea –

a swarm of ants scurries busily on the rocks

how could there be clouds in the sky –


the wind fuels the tide

pounding the rocks

sweeping them away

the ants flee in all directions

Published in 《新加坡的99幅文学风景》(2004)

Henry Low Swee Kim is the President of the Singapore Writers Association and editor-in-chief of Xinhua Literature. He won the Young Artist Award (Literature) in 1999. He is the author of poetry collections If There Is Love, Piecing Together with Memories is Called Myth, Searching for Poems and essay collections Surrounded by Mountains and Let's Leave. He is also the editor-in-chief of Singapore's 99 Literary Landscapes and Singapore-Malaysia Literary High-Speed ​​Railway.

新加坡作家协会会长，《新华文学》总编辑。1999年获青年艺术家奖（文学）。著有 诗集《若是有情》《用一种回忆拼凑叫神话》《寻找诗》以及散文集《众山围绕》《 说散就散》，并且主编《新加坡的99幅文学风景》《新马文学高铁之微型小说》等。

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Poems on the MRT is an initiative by the National Arts Council, in partnership with SMRT and Stellar Ace. Produced by Sing Lit Station, a local literary non-profit organisation, this collaboration displays excerpts of Singapore poetry throughout SMRT’s train network, integrating local literature into the daily experience of commuters. Look out for poems in English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil in trains on the East-West, North-South and Circle Lines, as well as videos created by local artists and featuring local poets in stations and on trains. The Chinese, Malay, and Tamil poems are available in both the original languages and English. To enjoy the full poems, commuters may read them on go.gov.sg/potm.

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