[英譯中]秦俑 (Terra Cotta Soldiers)

Terra Cotta Soldiers

Tell us, what's the matter with you, soldier?
When your heads were stepped over, you didn't even blink.
Thousands of hooves stomped by; yet you didn't even moan.
Have you lost that shout? Or the Dao has abandoned you?
Whatever happened to your battle cry?
What caused the erosion of the essence of the Yang in you?

When you were unearthed from underneath our feet
our collective jaw dropped to the ground, for it was hard
to believe they’ve you lined up like this
for a couple of millennia
Silence is no longer gold
but the loudest battle cry that will never be heard
Sad but miraculous that through the corridor of time
you have somehow kept yourself alive
We marvel at the resemblance and the familiar expression
of pride, of helplessness and of indifference
an expression that has eventually become us

Maybe we should thank the Chief Craftsman
for his suffering kept you vivid for eternity
When he was a boy, learning his crafts
He hadn't got the slightest idea that someday
His genius and dedication would become his demise
For his fame, the Imperial Court issued no invitation
Instead, they sent some bruising soldiers to capture him
He was made the Chief Craftsman to craft the best
clay soldiers that will guard the emperor's tomb
a container of gigantic evil.
Clay simply because human body would rot
For the craftsman of great skills, there was no honor,
no proper decoration but a cruel threat:
"If you ever kill yourself in protest
Death will become your entire family,
your entire town, infant and elderly included"
From that day on soldiers dominated his life
A fact that no doubt contributed to his art pieces
and enriched the individuality in his creation
Thus your stance had us greatly impressed
We almost forgot that grand irony of centuries --
art was the Chief Craftsman's lifelong spite

By now you probably have realized
why you’ve been lined up like this, and
whom or what you were supposed to protect
Soldiers are born to take pride of their commander
The more terrible the tyrant the more respect you yield to him
The more cruel the emperor the more resounding the empire
A dead emperor must be accompanied by thousands
into the underground, so his power lingers on forever
Oh, you hold your chin up with dignity and glory
None of you has ever shed a tear. You couldn’t
for tears can be so shameful for a soldier's dignity
Thus you remain strong but silent and empty
... for centuries ongoing

History has yet to forget that it is the empire
that ordered your creation also collapsed with your completion
The emperor’s funeral was grand, accompanied
by the Chief Craftsman and thousands of terra cotta soldiers
An ancient equilibrium was thus broken
Catastrophe was feared on this bowl of yellow earth
Who would know that such a severe tip of balance
brought to this land not more bloodshed and misery
but a glorious Tang then a prosperous Song
thus yielded an unparalleled greatness
to a people of spectacular suffering and genius
Now a couple of millennia later this fossilization of Yang
under the yellow earth eventually brought to your offspring
the most fantastic agitation on this planet

We tremble, an army of this magnitude possesses the purest Qi
The aura of virility made the air bubble and scorched the earth
The day when a peasant's well-drill reached you
A rainbow of myriads of colors shot up into our sky
Who but we could detect the pain wrapped in glittering pride?
for, so many episodes are still vivid in our mind
Ancient philosophies constructed by years of medication
were trashed by the emperor of our own barbarianism
and shunned by many of our simpleton kings and lords
Great poets of the Milky Way Galaxy were exiled to wild mountains
And since the burials of soldiers made of clay
heroes are executed or cancelled each other out
beauties were treated with cruelty and destruction
the pain was inevitable and gigantic ...
... miracle is that we still live to the day
to see you being unearthed ...
Only now we feel that weakness in our knees
weak may also be some of our spines

Astonished, we came to grasp the sad fact
that we are, indeed, the unfortunate children of you
the damned soldier who died standing up
Our love has trickled into a puddle of uneasiness
We’ve got no idea what your re-appearance will bring to us
We watch your being paraded around the world
in museums and exhibition halls
We struggle in silence to explain why we feel so
whenever we face you
A solitary soldier or an army of clay mummies,
both pride and shame stack up in our heart
a fabulous congestion stuck in our throat
Like a wild fire raging across the Gobi Desert
We want to declare that we are no children of any damn soldier
The only link between you and us is this time eternal land
Not only are you dumb and deaf, you also leave us with no choice
You are nothing but empty shells with eyes that could never focus
The world has left you and is threatening to leave us soon
However, before that takes place, we'd like to make sure
that proper light be shed on you so the world could see
that you are truly masterpieces of human creation
and our ancestors didn't suffer in vain
for they have you as well as us
as proof of their great genius and perseverance

written in March, 2000
revised in May, 2007

---

秦俑

嘿，當兵的，你這是怎麽啦？
有人腳踩到你頭上，你眼皮都不眨一下
幾千隻馬蹄紛呈而至，你連一聲都不吱
難道你啞巴了，還是那道真的已舍你而去
你那上陣的衝殺呐喊聲呢？
是什麽吸走了你陽氣的精華？

那年你從我們的腳下出土時
我們下巴著地目瞪口呆，誰敢相信
你們就這樣貯立了整整兩千多年呐
不，沉默不再是金，那是世上永遠
也聽不見的最嘹亮的上陣呐喊聲啊
可悲可歎喲，在時間的長廊裏
你竟能這樣挺下來。誰敢相信呐
相貌如此熟識，表情幾乎一致
同樣的驕傲，無奈，冷漠
那可是溶入我們骨血的氣質 喲

也許我們應該感謝那老工匠，畢竟
是他的苦難賦予了你的栩栩如生，千年不變呀
孩提時代從師學藝時，他萬萬沒料到
天才加勤奮竟成了一個人命運的死結
可憐名聲在外呀，朝庭非但沒發一張請柬
還派了幾個大兵一根繩子把人帶走了
老匠人被任命為司 俑，泥塑車馬官兵
列伍成陣去守衛還在修築中的皇 陵
一個盛放巨大邪惡的地下皇宮啊
選擇泥塑僅僅是因為肉身易腐不能持久
老司 俑技藝空前絕後卻贏不到一分榮耀
未聽到一句讚美之詞，反得嚴厲警告：
“汝若選擇殺身以示不滿，
將被洙滅十族，滿村滿鎮的人哪
老的小的，無一人逃脫得了幹係！“
從被抓的那天起兵士占據了他的一生
這無疑使他的作品更加出色
給於每個泥塑士兵鮮明的個性。。。
以至於我們幾乎忘了一個天大的諷刺
– 藝術是老司 俑 一生 的 怨恨哪！

現在你該明白了吧
你們為什麽如此排列
到底在守衛著什麽。也許
當兵的天生忠誠於最高統帥
越專橫的獨裁者越能贏得你們的尊敬
越是殘忍的帝王他的帝國越是威震天下
帝王死了也要拉他千萬個陪葬者
讓王權在另一個世界裏輝煌持久
看哪，你們每個人威武驕傲昂首挺胸
一輩子沒流過一滴眼淚哪！你也不敢
眼淚對一個士兵該是多大的羞辱
你隻曉得方陣威武，沉默寡言，雙眼空洞
… 就這樣一個又一個世紀過去了

曆史沒有忘記那個製作你的龐大帝國
恰恰是在你焙燒出爐時轟然倒塌
帝王的葬禮空前隆重，老司 俑
和成千上萬的泥塑兵士一起 陪葬
保持萬年的 平衡從此被打破了
巨大的災難勢將砸毀這杯黃土
沒人想得嗬，如此可怕的失衡
非但沒有帶來更多的流血和災難
反而給了這片土地盛唐豐宋
這個民族從此走上榮耀之途
一個經受了水深火熱洗禮的民族
哺育了一代又一代天賦高超的英才
兩千年彈指一揮這陽氣的化石
出土了，才給子孫後代帶來了
這個星球上從未有過的震撼

我們顫抖，如此大軍擁有世上最純的氣
陽剛之氣在空中四下蔓延，烘烤大地
那年農夫打井的鑽頭碰著了你
就有彩虹一道攜五顏六色直射蒼穹
除了我們還有誰能察覺
閃爍之情所掩飾的痛苦
畢竟 那一幕一幕清晰可鑒曆曆在目啊
多少代人絞盡腦汁參悟出來的 哲理
被我們粗蠻的帝王踩在了腳下
銀河係最傑出的詩人們被流放到荒山野嶺
英雄人傑被處死的處死，殘殺的殘殺
美人們在殘忍刻毒裏 自戕 殘敗
痛苦是巨大了，劈頭蓋臉般湧來 …
… 今天我們能活著，還能看到
你的出土便是奇跡哪 …
我們中間有人雙膝發軟
甚至 脊梁骨癱瘓

驚愕之餘，我們不得承認
我們就是那些倒黴的孩子，你的後代
我們的祖先是站著死的呀
愛的涓流匯成一渦，風起波皺
沒有人知道你的回生意味著什麽
我們默默凝視著你在全世界巡展
出入於一個又一個博物館展覽廳
空氣凝重，不知該如何訴說
每當看到你，或單立或泥塑士兵成隊
我們同時感到驕傲和恥辱
一團野火在戈壁灘熊熊燃燒
我們喉嚨受堵，呼吸困難
我們多想大聲呐喊
我們不是這群 該死的士兵的後代
我們和你們之間唯一的聯係是這片土地
你們不僅又聾又啞，也讓我們別無選擇
你們是一群空殼，天生雙眼不能聚焦
世界已離你而去，也以同樣的命運威脅我們
但是，在那之前我們要讓你身披霞光
讓全世界都睜眼看看這人世的傑作
我們的祖先的苦難沒有白挨，因為
代表他們絕世天資和堅忍不拔的
真實寫照裏有你也有我

寫於 2000 年 3 月
改於 2007 年 5 月
[ 譯自 home.pacbell.net/nxliu/, 英文標題為 "Terra-Cotta Soldiers.”
作者出生地離兵馬俑出土地不出30公裏。]