Xiu Shi / 秀實

A prolific writer, poet, and a native of Hong Kong, he is currently President of the Association of Hong Kong Poetry and Poets and the Prose Poetry Association of Hong Kong, as well as Editor-in-Chief of The Roundtable : a Journal of Poetry and Poetics. Among his many publications are poetry : If you are sitting opposite me, Snow leopard, City in the sky, Paper rags, and Seagull； critical essays The pupa and the butterfly  and On Liu Ban Nong and his poetry. He has also edited a number of anthologies of contemporary Hong Kong and Chinese poetry, including Lights Across the River : a selected poetry of Hong Kong and Shenzhen， Infinite Night Colors: a selected poetry of Ningxia and Hong Kong, and Ocean to the South: a selected poetry of Chaozhou and Hong Kong.

秀實，香港本土詩人。現為「香港詩歌協會」會長、「香港散文詩創造社」社長、香港《圓桌詩刊》主編等。著有詩集《假如你坐在對面》、《荷塘月色》《雪豹》、《天空之城》、《紙屑》、《海鷗集》，詩評集《散文詩的蛹與蝶》、《劉半農詩歌研究》，並編有《燈火隔河相望──深港詩選》、《無邊夜色──寧港詩選》、《大海在其南──潮港詩選》等。

e-mail: roundtable28@hotmail.com  

        刀

沉默，只有沉默

讓銀光閃閃的軀體

靜靜伺伏在書桌上

寒光對冷月，窗外的夜

滑落更深的深淵

白玉瓷般的刀柄包藏著

鋒利的眼神，一線如刃的

刀口仍沾著落寞的眼影

不欲再宣揚那割捨的哲學

我曾經傷害了所有的落果

把皮削去

把肉剖開

剔落了核

從此一切都得在

永恆的泥土上

重新開始

陌生的我今已沉默不語

舊年的我仍在而明年的我

卻已在折曲的刀柄內

沉默，至慢慢瘖鈍

不欲再有鋒芒

如磨刀石般

輾成細砂的生命

會寂靜地消逝

當風把思念吹過刀口

如何能割斷

那牽掛的所有

        The Paring Knife

Solitary and mute lies

The scintillating metallic blade

Dormant on the reading desk

Bouncing off chilly moonshine, whilst the night

Slides deeper into the abyss

Outside the window.

The white porcelain grip wraps

An erstwhile vigilance. A mournful glance

Gleams the keen edge, signaling

An unwillingness again

To profess the philosophy of severance.

For I have wronged every one of those fallen fruits,

Have peeled and

Sliced and

Pitted,

To force a beginning

Anew, from that time on,

In the eternal soil.

Silent sink the stranger I, hushed

Vis-à-vis Me of yester year; whilst the year to come

Finds Me huddled, speechless in the bent hilt,

Stranded in the slowly fading luster.

Farewell to that thin, sharpened glare,

Life ground to numberless fine sands

As if on the whetstone

Disappearing in tranquility.

But how does it sever now

All that’s on one’s mind,

When a gust blows the tender thoughts

Across the edge?

Translated by Yanwing Leung

        三個梨子

夜終於沉靜為一個空瓶子

我坐在沙發上，我的思緒鬆散成為這個房子

子夜過去了，但許多事物仍在暗地裏進行

我知道的這個世間有許多女子

她們遇上了不美好的情緣中美好的部份並在這個時候

躺在床上回憶著那些絲微般的話語

如溫柔的細雨落在佈滿種子的土壤上

她們會想像，許多不同顏色的果子在秋天裏

沐浴在整片陽光中並發出生命的呻吟

白石州如一張平靜的大床褥我獨自躺下

放下了所有色彩，細細體味存在的奇妙

記憶中有歌聲沿著深南大道響起

有燈火點燃了城市的情慾

曾經失火的房子，現在已經冰冷了

最終是紫薇花一般無言的懸在黑夜的枝椏上

三個青色的梨子，妳遺下

梨子是青色的，妳遠離了那種成熟的緣份

        Three Pears

In the end the night settles quietly into a spent bottle,

I sit on the couch, my empty thoughts dilate to room size.

Midnight fades away, hiding myriad transactions in the dark still.

Women of this world there are, I know, plenty of them who,

Once tempted by the charm of a doomed love, are resting

At this hour in bed, reminiscing the smooth silky words

Like soft drizzle falling on soil, pregnant with seeds.

They would imagine, enough autumnal fruits of all colors

Bathing together under a swathe of sun, groaning for life.

White Stone Bay stretches like an immense peaceful mattress, Alone

I lie down, to put aside all the colors to savor the miracle of being.

I recall songs rising along Indigo Boulevard,

Amidst city lights that kindled urban desires.

Once burned in a fire, the house now stands icy cold, at length

Like silent crape myrtle blossoms dangling from twigs

In the dark.

Those were three green pears. The pears you left behind

Were all green, long forfeiting a chance for a ripe encounter.

Translated by Yanwing Leung

        旅館秋月

我看到那月亮吊懸著整個盆地的秋意

我看到那摩天樓輝煌燈火焚毀了這個城邦

在斑馬線前我的思想不再有影子追捕

這個夜晚，讓舊年的落葉鋪滿了寂寥的台堦

我勾不起任何一段往事和悲愴

酒酣夜別，所有的臉容都空白如霜

日子是美好的，秋後便是一場漫空大雪

寂滅了當日那些言笑晏晏的夏雨

流動的雲和流動的歲月無疆

圍困著我的是層層疊疊的蒼老

佝僂的背影，爬不過清冷無人的月台

背著這個城邦我肢離破碎的存活下來

        Autumn Moon over a Faraway Lodge

A touch of autumn I see hanging over the full basin suspended under the moon

I see the whole metropolis torched by the glamorous lights of that skyscraper

My thoughts are no longer chased down by shadows at the zebra crossing

This very night, let yesteryear’s fallen foliage bury the lonely steps

I cannot recall a single past episode or sorrow

All drunken faces look white and empty as frost this parting evening

The days are charming. A blinding snow storm following the arrival of autumn

Silences the soft laughing summer rain of yesterday

Drifting clouds, drifting days and months unlimited

I am surrounded by layers and layers of senectitude

A hunched back shadow, unable to scale the deserted platform

I survive, fragmented, carrying the whole city on my back

Translated by Yanwing Leung