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Poems on the MRT

安静不因我们离去更安静 / Silence that is no more silent by Pan Cheng Lui

 

安静不因我们离去更安静
潘正镭

世界从来没有如此安静过
只因一朵云
飘近你的身边
她向来是幻梦羊
可从不与你招呼
她有时是一朵莲
泪水只是过境

世界从来没有如此安静过
只因山头的歌声
绕过你身腰
她从来不像一阵雨
不时会淋湿你的头发
她有时唱出一朵喇叭
在微熹蓝光里
让你听闻天音

安静如一轮明月
山鸟不因而惊飞
皎皎羽无痕
飘飘飘何以似地飘向
那身颜素白的宗内边

所有来时的想象逐渐空白
所有的心念转成一管芦苇
所有的指数倒成自力幸福
所有的雨都不是干旱的
笑，雨也就笑了
不哭，雨也不苦了

世界从来没有如此安静过
安静如辛夷花在山涧开落
安静不因我们到来而离去
安静不因我们离去更安静


Silence that is no more silent
Written by Pan Cheng Lui
Translated by Joshua Ip

the world has never held its breath like this
and just because a cloud
has drifted near you
she, usually the sheep of your dreams
that never says hello
or sometimes she’s a lotus flower –
these tears are transitory

the world has never held a hush like this
and just because a song from the mountaintop
lilts by your side
she’s never been a passing shower
that tousles your hair with wet
sometimes she’ll scat a trumpet solo
in the cerulean dim
for you to hear a hint of heaven

this silence – the curve of the moon
for whom mountain birds do not startle
whose snowy feathers leave no mark
where do they drift and dally but towards
the pure alabaster of a temple – within

and all the road’s imaginings fade to white
and all the worries whittle to a reed
and all the measures fall to a self-sure peace
and all the rain is that not of the drought
you laugh, and the rain laughs with you
you stop crying, and the rain no longer bitter

the world has never held its breath like this
silence like magnolia winking in the walls of a gorge
silence that does not leave because we have come
silence that is no more silent because we have gone

Published in 天毯 (2015)

Pan Cheng Lui (b. 1955) is a Singaporean who has written under the pen-name “Jin Tian Yu”, “Lan Yu Mu”, and “Pan Gong Huai”. He graduated from Nanta (南大, or Nanyang University), was the editor of Shin Min Daily News, and the senior executive editor at Lianhe Zaobao. He also received the Chevalier de I’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the government of France in 2012, the Nanyang Alumni Achievement Award, NTU and The Boddhisattva Manjushri Avatamsaka Award presented by The Seven-Headed Rock Temple of Zhangzhou, Fujian, China.

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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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