Lee Min-yung / 李敏勇
Lee Min-yung (b. 1947) was born in Kaohsiung. A history major, he began to publish poetry in 1967. A poet, critic and social activist, he has served as editor-in-chief of the Li Poetry and was president of Taiwan PEN. Winner of 2007 National Arts Award in literature, he has published several books of poems, essays and translations. His poetry collections include Requiem (1990), The Wildlife Thinking (1990), Landscapes under Martial Law (1990), A Tilted Island (1993), Sonata in Soul (1999) and A Poet’s Confession (2009). He has also compiled many volumes of poetry by Taiwanese poets. His works feature a strong sense of commitment to society and reflection on the ethics of aesthetics.
E-mail: lees23913221@yahoo.com.tw
Dream / 夢
After nightfall
There was a crack in reality
Through which
I escaped
Although you
Had imprisoned me
Like a convict sentenced to life
I was free
After the escape
You could not capture the lines of my palms of love
You could not capture the traces of my feet of hatred
(Trans: William Marr)
The World of Negatives / 底片的世界
Shut the windows and doors
pull down the shades
cut off all destructive light
in the darkroom
we open the camera carefully
and take out the negatives
they capture the scenery of our lives
making the visible invisible
they record the reality of our deaths
turning experience into fantasy
we carefully put
the negatives into the developer
so they can paint
the joys of our lives
in positive shapes
or describe the sorrows of our deaths
with obscure colors
when all the details appear
we remove the negatives
and put them into the fixer
they carry the love of our lives
in special symbols
they bear the hatred of our deaths
in complex forms
from this moment on
we don’t need to be so careful
we rinse the negatives with clean water
and when the impurities are washed away
and the stains gone
we will be able to recollect our time
with pure proofs from the file of history
(Trans: William Marr)
Boundaries / 邊界
An island surrounded by the blue ocean
has no boundary.
An island under the bright sky
has no boundary.
Also, who are they
building the bastion of iron to delimit boundaries?
The barbed wires
restrict the yearning for long voyages.
The boom nets
restrict the hope of flying free.
(Trans: K. C. Tu)
A Prayer at the Bridge between the Centuries / 在世紀之橋的禱詞
War is consigned to history
Disaster to memory
The scars and tears form a natural screen
In a drizzle
A rainbow appears like a bridge between the centuries
At the end and the beginning of time
Separating past and future
Now it is
Dusk at century’s end
After the fall of night
The stars will point the way
Through the darkness
The light on the horizon shines on the house of the rising sun
Formosa remains in the sea’s embrace
Brewing dreams
Above the horizon
Together, her people call out
Taiwan
(Trans: John Balcom)