darkness and exaggerated silence wrap the house,
the still corners; the road and all her signals sleep.
Deep night is the poetic echo in a still shell
the night shore is only a foot deep
in flickering desk lamp and shadow,
even the pictures have folded up their wings,
the nightsongcontinuously resurfacing
(Helen)
Evening snow shrouds the house and the road,
a winter ghost of silence
that glows in the moonlight, casts shadows on the walls.
Pictures take wing, float in subdued breathing
of sleep and of night.
(Nolcha)
The silence of night is a snowfall from mountains
beyond the town,
from a man who bought wine before the tavern closed,
shoulders slanting,
walking home along the fading path.
It comes from the all-night lamp on the green porch
that casts a circle of light, where he paused a while,
listening to the subdued voices inside, and
the surrounding mountains.
(Yongbo)
The man from the tavern carries silence on his shoulders.
The circle of light is his halo. He unfolds his wings,
and flies toward the mountains, into the morning sun.
(Nolcha)
Yongbo’s Translation into Chinese
黑暗与夸张的寂静笼罩着屋子
静止的角落，道路及所有讯息都已沉睡。
深夜是寂静空壳里诗的回响。
夜岸不过一尺深浅，摇曳在台灯与影子之间，
甚至那些画也收敛了翅膀，
夜曲不断地重新响起。
（海伦）
暮雪覆盖了屋舍与长路，寂静冬日的幽魂，
沐着月色泛出微光，在墙上投下影子。
画面展开翅膀，飘游在睡眠与夜压抑的呼吸里。
（诺尔查）
夜晚的寂静是一场雪，来自城外的群山，
来自一个在酒馆打烊前沽酒，倾斜着肩膀
沿着逐渐消失的小路回家的男人
来自绿色门廊上彻夜不眠的灯盏
投下的光圈，他在里边停了片刻，
倾听屋内压低的声音，以及周遭的群山
（永波）
从酒馆出来的男子把寂静驮在肩上。
他的光圈是圣徒的晕轮。他舒展双翼，
飞向群山，飞进早晨的太阳。
（诺尔查）
© Ma Yongbo, Helen Pletts, and Nolcha Fox
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| Ma Yongbo |
Ma Yongbo is a Ph.D., representative of Chinese avant-garde poetry, and a leading scholar in Anglo-American poetry. He has published over 80 original works and translations since 1986, including 6 poetry collections. He focuses on translating and teaching Anglo-American poetry and prose, including the works of Dickinson, Whitman, Stevens, Pound, Williams, and Ashbery. He recently published a complete translation of Moby Dick, which sold over half a million copies. He teaches at Nanjing University of Science and Technology.
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| Helen Pletts |
Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨 is the English co-translator of the Chinese poet Ma Yongbo 马永波, who is her official Chinese translator. She is a committee member of CB1 Poetry, the established monthly poetry reading event in central Cambridge, UK, which has organized poetry readings for many years. CB1 features up-and-coming writers and well-known poetry names. Her work has been translated into Chinese, Bangla, Greek, Vietnamese, Serbian, Korean, Arabic, Italian, Albanian, and Romanian. Website: https://www.helenpletts.com/.
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| Nolcha Fox |
Nolcha Fox’s poems have been curated in print and online journals. A best-selling author, her poetry books are available on Amazon and Dancing Girl Press. Nominated for Best Of The Net and The Pushcart Prize multiple times. Editor of Chewers by Masticadores and LatinosUSA. Website: https://writingaddiction2.wordpress.com/.
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