Canyon in the Body (English and Simplified Chinese)

5. Poets Are Useless

1 诗人无用 无用的字，无用的眼泪 无用的瘟疫在壮大它的无用 无用凌辱被它毁掉的 单数的人 水是泪滴，米饭是沙粒 馒头是坚硬的石块 卧室是深渊，厨房是黑暗 每一次呼吸都是被死亡追赶的哀号 无用于最漂亮的面具 无用于一张被劣质水泥板砸碎的 女人的脸，雨水中白皙大腿的腐烂 一场地震加深了地狱的血盆大口 无用的痛哭冲刷迷惘的眼 谁能看见活着的可耻习惯？ 没救的人，依然在喝死人的血 犹如这几行文字 在加深我的耻辱、窒息—— 写下它： 罪责仍在继续…… 11 Poets Are Useless Useless words, useless tears Useless plague expanding its uselessness Uselessness insults each and every one it has destroyed Water is a teardrop, rice a grain of sand A steamed bun is solid stone Bedroom an abyss, a kitchen the darkness Each breath an anguished howl chased by death Useless to the loveliest mask Useless to a woman’s face smashed by weak cement slabs, a fair thigh decaying in the rain An earthquake deepens the bloody maw of hell Useless wails cleanse perplexed eyes Who can see the shameful routine of an ignoble life? Hopeless men, still drinking blood from the dead Like these lines deepening my disgrace, my suffocation — write it down: Guilt still goes on . . . ...