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Poems on the MRT

回到南洋 / Return to the Nanyang by Tan Chee Lay

 

回到南洋
陈志锐

拖着因久离而被拉长的思绪
回到南洋
始终黏腻的南方之洋
始终阵雨始终季候风吹着的南方无恙

潮湿的日常
有一些近处无所适从的安静
以及远方不置可否的喧闹
天空始终被更多的新房子切割
道路始终让更多的施工所阻隔
到处都是人工
工人到处都是

回到南洋
一个再熟悉不过的陌生地
一个再陌生不过的熟悉满地
我想把自己活成一个
城市的游移者
在边缘游走
在边缘的边缘游移
无需过于介入
又不可完全抽离

在南洋的边缘 边缘的南洋
大概不会那么炽热潮湿以及烦躁
带着中距离 甚至中远距离的眼光
找到属于自己的若即若离的景深与恰恰好的位置
听音乐或不听音乐地读书写字思考辩证打坐
然后
轻盈地却又深刻地
活出仅此一家的南洋


Return to the Nanyang
Written by Tan Chee Lay
Translated by Shelly Bryant

dragging along thoughts stretched by long absence
return to Nanyang —
the ever clammy southern sea
the south that is always showered on always blown by the monsoon and is as well as ever

the damp everyday
a kind of nearby quiet that leaves one at a loss
and a distant clamour that stays noncommittal
the sky is continually cut up
by ever newer houses
the roads are continually blocked
by ever more construction
artificiality everywhere
workers everywhere

return to Nanyang—
a strange place that could not be more familiar
a ground full of familiarity
that could not be more strange
I want to live myself into
a wanderer of the city
roaming along the edges
drifting at the edge of the edge
with no need to get overly involved
yet unable to withdraw entirely

at Nanyang’s edge the edge’s Nanyang
will probably be less
scorching humid irritable
With a middle distance — indeed even
a medium long distance — gaze
find my own near yet far depth of field
and the just right spot
to music without music
read write think
argue dialectically sit in meditation—
and then
lightly deeply
live out a one and only Nanyang

Published in Lianhe Zaobao (15 March 2024)

Tan Chee Lay received his PhD in Oriental Studies at Cambridge University. He is currently an Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Professional Learning at the National Institute of Education, as well as the Chairman of Singapore Book Council. He was conferred the Golden Point Award, Fang Xiu Literary Award, Singapore Youth Award, Young Artist Award, and Singapore Literature Prize. He has written and edited almost 30 academic and creative books.

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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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