Zheng Danyi, "but love"
BUT LOVE
but love loves only the three-minute drunk in drunkenness, for abandonment
has nothing to do with wine, or how the survivor's cup holds reflections
of sword and dagger, and less to do with moonlight
with milky white passion, squeezing in from the south window, then out
from the north, leaving nothing but the dense aroma of sweat and joy, and
even less to do with fish shuttling in the bay nearby, and
the canoe in your heart
braving a Sunday of wind and waves, yet having nothing to do
with wind and waves--and, beside you
the stranger with a cracked heart
muttering in his dreams--
I loved last night, for love's sake, loved even
the dream of your floral tablecloth, and
how reluctant it was to wake up--but love
always arrives on time, if love is only a distant view with nothing to do with the viewing
ZHENG DANYI
Translated from the Chinese by Luo Hui
but love loves only the three-minute drunk in drunkenness, for abandonment
has nothing to do with wine, or how the survivor's cup holds reflections
of sword and dagger, and less to do with moonlight
with milky white passion, squeezing in from the south window, then out
from the north, leaving nothing but the dense aroma of sweat and joy, and
even less to do with fish shuttling in the bay nearby, and
the canoe in your heart
braving a Sunday of wind and waves, yet having nothing to do
with wind and waves--and, beside you
the stranger with a cracked heart
muttering in his dreams--
I loved last night, for love's sake, loved even
the dream of your floral tablecloth, and
how reluctant it was to wake up--but love
always arrives on time, if love is only a distant view with nothing to do with the viewing
ZHENG DANYI
Translated from the Chinese by Luo Hui