1 Soul ofthe Dead

Midnight–

no soundof cough, or sigh, or talking in sleep,

thebig mountain of concrete reinforcing bars

evenweighs down save somebody’s life– 

no one canshout. Only the soul of the dead

can crawlout of the ruins,

ridingdust, starlight, and electric wave

to passthrough the tunnel’s billow smoke,

arrive inthe pitch black before my window,

tell menews of who died in the accident

returningthen and again a long distance

as he hasalready beat open heaven’s gate.

No matter theJade Emperor has already prepared

a feast ofa dinner for him, he can also return

to hisparents under the ruins

eventhough they are already separated

by yin andyang.

2 Fist

From theruins this single hand extends,

quicklysends up a fist

like abroken crown of a head

at thesame time like a banner stretched from a window

fromswollen red to paleness,

perfectlymoistened dust

blood thathas completely flowed away

but backas before without disentangling,

alreadylosing life

but todeep love of life

still inthe hollow of the palm

like thewintry inside of a baked yam

graspingearth lightly

grasping

earthlightly.

This gripof a fist

wants tobeat the earth like a drumstick,

the bluesky its direction,

beat outin a single day–

no way toretract.

3 Pupilof the Eye

Daytimearrives,

but thereis no sun.

The nightis deep

but doesnot meet starlight,

this pairof pupils on tiptoe with hope

to not beshut again,

but theruins are not closed.

Theirsearch is for those

whose eyesdare to look at theirs

to soonpenetrate the ruins

and withtheir help

find lifecontinuing.

4 AChild’s Shoes

This pairfits exactly,

child’sshoes in a devil’s claw

insertedin the ruin’s nostrils

turnedinto the devil’s spoils of war,

thatchild’s ankle,

a placeeasily injured

whether ornot already bound

alreadythrown into every mother’s bosom

or stillin the shake between heaven and earth

from ruinto ruin.

Not oneplace

can lethim come down

until healong with a mansion’s final fall–

fall over,

this shoe,this child

this wayalready a part of the ruins

become thehostage’s suffering

materialevidence of a past life.

5 PracticeBook

Pen andbook,

likefather and mother,

separated,

a pageopened by the wind,

emptyspace

again, onepage open.

This isthe empty page.

6 HeavyRain

Heavy raintakes the ruins as rich soil,

heavy rainmakes concrete and reinforcing bars

rich soil,

a goodhelp to life later,

stillthere is life,

Da Yuprevents floods,

yet theYellow River still floods.

Thefoolish old man removed the mountain

but themountain still towers aloft.

What, asurvivor under the ruins?

Use allyour strength, widen the mouth.

Shoutloudly! Quick, shout loudly!

These areGod’s penitent tears.

Notes:

Da Yu is aplay on homonyms. It means heavy rain, and it is also the name of the reputedfounder of the Xia dynasty.

Thefoolish old man is a reference to a Chinese proverb relating the ability of anold man to perform an impossible feat despite his neighbor’s skepticism.

7 Sound ofSong

No matterwho you are,

speak asentence to me,

no matterwhether or not you can hear

let megive you a song to sing,

althoughwe are inside the same floor,

untiltoday

until thefloor becomes ruins,

and we becomegood neighbors.

Singtogether with me,

penetratethe ruins with the sound of our song–

penetratingthe ruin’s every nook,

slushdrifts out to the wilderness,

like thickwater fills the wheat all the way–

singdeath’s song,

it is ofhappiness–

the soulsof our dead want to return by the long road,

lonely,dead on, comforting.

Ah, it isour own song.

8 Seed

Already Ihave no swallows to offer

to build anest in the eaves,

but Ibelieve it can hold a seed in its mouth.

Theseruins have a crack

crammed bythe dust

that hasbecome a flower nursery on good land.

If thereis a seed to drop on my body,

I will bewilling to offer everything to help sprout

eventhough forever stranded by the ruins–

I amwilling.

Originals of BeiTa

废墟

                        北塔

1亡灵

子夜

没有一声咳嗽、叹息或梦呓

钢筋混凝土的大山

压得连“救命”都喊不出

只有亡灵

能爬出废墟

乘着尘埃星光和电波

穿越烟尘滚滚的隧道

来到我漆黑的窗前

告诉我死难者的消息

然后又返回数千里外的废墟

哪怕他已经敲开了天堂的门

哪怕玉皇大帝已经为他准备好了接风宴

他也会回去

废墟下还有他的亲人

—尽管已经阴阳相隔

2拳头

这只从废墟里猛然伸出来的手

伸出来就是拳头

像一棵草顶破了石头

像一面旗帜探出窗口

从红肿到惨白

沾满了尘埃

血都流尽了

却依然没有松开

生命已经失去

但对生命的热爱

却依然在掌心里

像寒冬里的一只烤红薯

被紧紧地握着

握着

紧紧地

这紧握的拳头

犹如鼓槌要擂向大地

这指向苍天的拳头

一旦击出

就绝不缩回

3眸子

白天来了

却没有太阳

夜深了

却不见星光

这双企盼的眸子

再也闭不上了

但废墟关闭不了

它们的寻找

谁的眼睛敢跟它们对视

就能穿透废墟

在它们的帮助下

找到生命的延续

4鞋子

这双在奔跑中

在魔爪夺走的鞋子

插在废墟的鼻孔

成了魔鬼的战利品

那孩子的脚踝

最容易受伤的部位

是否已经得到了包扎

已经投入母亲的怀抱

或者,依然在摇晃的天地间奔跑

从废墟到废墟

没有一个地方

能让他停下来

直到他随着最后一栋大厦

倒下

这鞋子,这孩子

就这样成了废墟的一部分

成了灾难的人质

过去的生命的物证

5练习簿

笔和书

像父母

失散了

被风翻开一页

空白

再翻开一页

还是空白

6大雨

大雨把废墟当成了沃土

大雨要把钢筋混凝土改造成沃土

好让生命之后

还有生命

大禹治水

而江河依然泛滥

愚公移山

而山岭依然耸立

废墟下的幸存者啊

请使劲张大嘴

喝吧,喝点吧

这是老天爷忏悔的眼泪

7歌声

不管你是谁

跟我说句话吧

不管你是否能听见

让我给你唱首歌

虽然我们一直在同一座楼里

但直到今天

直到这楼成为废墟

我们才真正成为邻居

跟我一起唱吧

我们的歌声将穿透废墟

将充满废墟的每个角落

像雪水流满荒漠

像庄稼长满荒野

像浆水灌满麦穗

唱着歌死去

是幸福的

我们的亡灵还要走很长的路

寂寞中的最好的安慰

是我们自己的歌声啊

8种子

我已经没有供燕子筑巢的屋檐

但我相信它会衔来种子

这废墟有缝隙

会被尘土填满

成为花圃良田

如果有幸种子掉到我身上

我愿意献出一切让它发芽

纵然永远被困在废墟里

我也心甘情愿