Waqas Khwaja [USA]
isolation renga Kasen(and another poem)
1
gale of glittering wings
a tongue flicks the tulip’s eye
unbinds scent and sight
crowds, a barren wilderness
this solitude stirs with life
2
oatbread cheese and eggs
a pot of steaming coffee
a book next to sip
but grass smells of loneliness
how thickly it grows and spreads
3
old albums pulled out
those voices again, those songs
that scratch of stylus
it rumbles and rains outside
toads in the garden croak
4
squealing cassette spools
mother’s recorded message
sifts through forty years
the universe stands still
dwelling breathless on each word
5
a mere magnetic strip
haunted by a lost season
plumed with presences
sibling gossip, kinfolk yarns
grandma’s counsel and prayers
6
father full of news
heard once with half an ear
twilight’s tippling breeze
days of kindred permanence
nights strangers to affliction
7
table set and laid
the guests grab their seats
ravenous all and ready
you never heard such laughter
nor such tales exchanged that night
8
no cherry blossoms
no waxing or waning moon
no songbird warbling
what kind of renga is this
apparitions in your head
good company, chirps the night
dark matter
that which binds
puckers and crimps and twines
invisible itself
a wisp without substance
a flicker without a gleam
something there is
that bends light
clusters flocks of cloud
ornaments skies with their offspring
sets a juggler’s days and nights in motion
rope strand and filament
pollen and spore
a cornfield’s pearls and tassels
an ear of wheat’s granary of gold
a quaking aspen’s roots and ichor
ancient ghost dust
burgeoning and blooming in the whale’s playground
slipping through rock citadels
spinning and spiraling in tropical troughs
sparking a struck matchstick
phantom motes and particles
whimsical as water
treacherous as painted ships
flaming viaducts of mirrors and ice
bridging seas of painterly space
droopy melting clocks
a squadron of pious ants
droning over its banquet of time
a ram’s skull its antlers spread like wings
flying past a floating white hollyhock
om and omega
tao of all that exists
no-thing in everything
nowhere in everywhere
the absent one
always present
瓦卡斯·赫瓦贾[美国]
孤独连歌（外一首）
1
狂风的翅膀闪耀夺目
舌头轻点着郁金香的眼睛
释放芳香与美景
人群，是一片贫瘠的荒芜
这种孤独裹挟着生命的激荡
2
燕麦面包、奶酪和鸡蛋
一壶热气腾腾的咖啡
在一本书旁边啜饮
但草地散发着孤独的味道
它弥漫和扩散的多么浓厚
3
拿出旧专辑
那些声音再次浮现，那些歌曲
是笔尖的划痕
外面隆隆作响，雨声渐渐
花园里蛙声阵阵
4
磁带卷吱吱作响
母亲的录音留言
细细听过四十年
宇宙静止不动
屏息凝思每一个字
5
只是一个的磁条
困扰于失落的季节
用存在装饰羽毛
兄弟姐妹的闲聊，亲戚的闲谈
奶奶的忠告和祈祷
6
父亲消息灵通
曾略微听过一次
朦胧的微风
亲情长存的日子
陌生的苦恼夜晚
7
摆放好桌子
宾客纷纷就座
饥肠辘辘地准备着
你从没听到过这样的笑声
那天晚上也没有这样的故事
8
樱花还未盛开
也无盈亏的月亮
更无夜莺婉转
这是什么连歌
隐现在你的脑中
好伙计，夜里鸣叫
暗物质
哪一种束缚
折叠、起皱、缠绕着
看不见的自己
没有实体的一缕
没有微光的闪烁
有些东西确实存在
它使光线弯曲
云朵成团成群
用它们的产物装饰天空
让杂耍者日夜忙碌
绳股和长丝
花粉和孢子
麦田的珍珠和流苏
麦穗的黄金谷仓
抖动的白杨树根和树枝
古老的幽灵尘埃
在鲸鱼的游乐场里蓬勃生长
穿过岩石城堡
在热带低谷中旋转盘旋着
点燃一根擦过的火柴
幻影微粒和粒子
像水一样异想天开
像彩绘的船一样危险
由镜子和冰制成的燃烧的高架桥
跨越绘画空间的海洋
下垂的熔化钟表
虔诚的蚂蚁成群
在时间的宴会上嗡嗡作响
公羊头骨上的角像翅膀展开
飞过漂浮的白蜀葵
唵和欧米加
万物之道
无所不在
无处不在
缺席的那个
永远存在
(张丹博士 译；Tr. Dr. Zhang Dan)
About the author
Pakistani-American poet, Waqas Khwaja, was born in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1952. He has published four collections of poetry,Six Geese from a Tomb at Medum, Mariam’s Lament, No One Waits for the Train, and,Hold Your Breath, and a literary travelogue,Writers and Landscapes, about his experiences as a fellow of the University of Iowa’s International Writers’ Program. He has compiled and edited three anthologies of Pakistani literature,Cactus,Mornings in the Wilderness, andShort Stories from Pakistan, comprising work by Pakistani Anglophone writers as well as translations from Urdu and Punjabi poetry and fiction, and served as translation editor and contributor forModern Poetry of Pakistan, an NEA project showcasing the work of Pakistan’s major poets from its seven prominent language traditions. Khwaja has guest-edited a special issue on Pakistani poetry forAtlanta Review and another, devoted to scholarly essays on Pakistani literature, for theJournal of Commonwealth and Postcolonial Literature. His poems and translations have appeared in US, South Asian, European, African, Middle Eastern, Far Eastern, and Latin American publications and his work translated in Arabic, Spanish, German, Italian, Chinese, Korean, French, Lithuanian, and Romanian. Khwaja was a practicing lawyer and visiting professor of law in Pakistan before migrating to the U.S. in 1994. He has published articles and essays on writers from many linguistic and cultural traditions and on subjects as wide-ranging as literature and economics, history, culture, and politics. He has received special recognition for outstanding creative writing from the South Asian Literary Society (SALA), USA, the Orient-Occident Arts Laureate Award fromFundația Academia Internațională Orient-Occident, Romania, and the Ditët-e-Naimit Literary Career Award, Macedonia. As a recipient of an endowed chair, Khwaja is the Ellen Douglass Leyburn Professor of English at Agnes Scott College, USA, where he teaches courses in literature and creative writing.
作者简介
巴基斯坦裔美国诗人瓦卡斯·赫瓦贾，1952年出生于巴基斯坦拉合尔。已出版四部诗集：《默德姆墓中的六只鹅》《玛利亚姆的挽歌》《无人等待火车》和《屏住呼吸》。此外，还出版了一部文学游记《作家与风景》，讲述了他作为爱荷华大学国际作家项目成员的经历。他编撰和编辑了三本巴基斯坦文学选集《仙人掌》《荒野的早晨》和《巴基斯坦短篇小说》，其中包括巴基斯坦英语作家的作品、乌尔都语和旁遮普语诗歌和小说的翻译，并担任《巴基斯坦现代诗歌》的翻译编辑和撰稿人，这是NEA的一个项目，展示了巴基斯坦主要诗人的七种语言的传统作品。赫瓦贾曾为《亚特兰大评论》客座编辑过一期关于巴基斯坦诗歌的特刊，也为《英联邦与后殖民文学杂志》专门编辑过一期关于巴基斯坦文学的学术论文。他的诗歌和译作出现在美国、南亚、欧洲、非洲、中东、远东和拉丁美洲的出版物上，其作品被翻译成阿拉伯语、西班牙语、德语、意大利语、汉语、韩语、法语、立陶宛语和罗马尼亚语。赫瓦贾在1994年移民美国之前是巴基斯坦的一名执业律师和客座法学教授。他发表过关于许多语言和文化传统的作家文章和论文，涉及的主题非常广泛，包括文学、经济、历史、文化和政治。曾获美国南亚文学协会颁发的杰出创意写作特别奖、罗马尼亚基金会，学术界国际东西方艺术奖和马其顿Ditët-e-Naimit文学成就奖。赫瓦贾是美国艾格尼丝·斯科特学院的艾伦·道格拉斯·莱本英语教授，讲授文学和创意写作课程。
