Ma Yongbo: Three poems for Helen Pletts in English & Chinese

The Last Light of Mother

The old house is empty, the steps crumbling,
the fence tilting, white paint peeling.
The windows still hold their geometric shape,
as if trying to impose rational form
on a blurred vision.

Mother’s black horn comb still tangles
a dry, coiled strand of grey hair.
Like wire piercing your palm,
it keeps growing. The three-volume Proust
you read and made madeleines with as a girl
still stands on the shelf, solitary,
like an abandoned family huddled close.

You linger in the kitchen—the laughter,
the shifting scents and hues of seasons,
the lively splash of your young hands in the sink,
the intimate murmurs between mother and daughter.
Now, only a beam of twilight
stays fixed at your feet. You turn
to face the mirror, emptier than the room,
as if by gazing long enough,
that mother-light might endure forever.

March 31, 2025, on the subway, by Ma Yongbo


~

最后的母亲之光：给海伦·普莱茨

老房子空了，台阶正在崩塌
栅栏歪斜，白色的油漆剥落
窗户还保持着几何形状
像是要给模糊的视野
重新赋予理性的形式

母亲的黑牛角梳子还缠绕着
一缕干燥弯曲的灰色长发
它们像铁丝穿透你的手掌
继续生长。你还是少女时读过
并做过玛德琳点心的三卷本普鲁斯特
还立在书架上，孤零零的
像一个被遗弃的家庭，紧紧靠在一起

你久久地站在厨房里，那欢笑
那四季不同的香味和色彩
你年轻的手在水槽里激起的
欢快水声，母女俩亲密的闲聊
如今，只有一道明亮的夕光
长久地停在你的脚前，你转身
对着比房间还要空荡的镜子
仿佛你只要长久地凝视它
那道母亲之光就会永远存在

2025年3月31日于地铁上
马永波

~~~~~~

Mother’s Garden – Comfort for Helen Pletts

How deep must you dig to take the entire garden away,
to avoid disturbing Mother’s peaceful sleep?
her hair still grows in your mouth,
her ashes still burn in your bones.

Mother’s blue is everywhere:
blue forget-me-nots, blue harebells,
shards of blue stars.

Keep digging, little girl—
with your childhood red plastic shovel,
dig into the gaps between atoms, into hollow eye sockets,
dig into the magma of archaeology, until you reach the netherworld: yourself.

April truly is the cruelest month,
whether it nurtures lilacs or bluebells.
the ashes embroidered on your tongue
were scattered by your own hands over the tangled flowers.

No one can walk here,
save shy deer, save wind and rain,
save those invisible wings
that can gently lift the whole garden
up to the constellations.

Midnight, April 21, 2025


~~~
 

母亲的花园——给海伦的安慰

需要挖出多深，才能把花园整个带走
才能避免弄痛母亲的安眠
她的发丝依然在你嘴里生长
她的灰烬依然在你骨头里燃烧

到处都是母亲的蓝色
蓝色的勿忘我，蓝色的铃铛花
蓝色的星星的碎片

继续挖吧，小女孩
用你童年红色的塑料铲子
挖进原子的缝隙，挖进空洞的眼窝
挖进考古学的岩浆，直到黄泉:你自己

四月果真是残忍的月份
无论它培育出的是紫丁香，还是蓝铃花
那在你舌尖上刺绣的骨灰
是你亲手撒在遍地纠结的花丛

没有人可以在这里行走
除了羞怯的鹿，除了风和雨
除了那可以将整座花园
轻轻提升到星座的无形的翅膀

2025年4月21日午夜
马永波

~~~~~

We Have Reached Many Distant Places—To Helen Who Is Ill

We have reached many distant places
a full eighteen months, clearly one more than the four seasons
a season not merely belonging to humans—spring water from glaciers
noisy brooks, tranquil lakes, and dark seas
but that fifth season uniquely ours—the boundless sky

Our clattering horse hooves have never stopped for a moment
in the folds of the horizon, there are always unfinished silhouettes
our armor is either covered with frost or condensed with night dew
we once stood on the peak of Mount Helicon
gazing at the vistas illuminated by lightning in an instant

Now, in a village so quiet that it appears to not be humanly created
We temporarily pull back the reins and remove all our equipment
dark spears, shields, greaves and pauldrons, and, of course, our heavy helmets.

You can finally let your golden long hair flow freely
let our patient companions graze on yellow flowers, going to the darker forest
and we, overlooking the scattered lights in the valley, think of nothing
for we ourselves are both the messengers and the message
and one night, along with countless nights, will gradually become transparent

August 11, 2025, by Ma Yongbo

~~~

我们已经抵达过很多个远方——给病中的海伦

我们已经抵达过很多个远方
整整十八个月，比四季还分明多出了一个
不仅仅属于人的季节——源自冰川的泉水，
喧闹的小溪，宁静的湖泊和黑暗的大海
而是那独独属于我们的第五季——无垠的天空
我们得得的马蹄从未曾有片刻的停歇
地平线的褶皱里永远藏着未完成的剪影
我们的铠甲不是结着冰霜，便是凝结着夜露
我们曾在赫利孔山巅眺望过闪电瞬间照亮的远景
如今，在一座安静得似乎非人工所建造的村庄
我们暂时勒住缰绳，卸下所有的装备
黝黑的长矛，盾牌，胫甲和肩甲，当然还有沉重的头盔
你终于可以披散开金色的长发
任我们耐心的伙伴啃食着黄花，去到更暗的林中
而我们，俯瞰着山谷下零星的灯火，一无所思
因为我们自己既是信使，也是信息
而一个夜晚，和无数个夜晚，将逐渐透明

2025 年8月11日, 马永波

~~~

Chinese poems written by Ma Yongbo and translated by the author.

Copyright 2025 Ma Yongbo. First published in ‘Ma Yongbo Poetry Road Trip – Summer Tour 2025, Volume 14’ by International Times. IT, 16th August 2025

Ma Yongbo 马永波 was born in 1964, Ph.D, representative of Chinese avant-garde poetry, and a leading scholar in Anglo-American poetry. He is the founder of polyphonic writing and objectified poetics. He is also the first translator to introduce British and American postmodern poetry into Chinese. He has published over eighty original works and translations since 1986 included 9 poetry collections. He focused on translating and teaching Anglo-American poetry and prose including the work of Dickinson, Whitman, Stevens, Pound, Amy Lowell, Williams, Ashbery and Rosanna Warren. He published a complete translation of Moby Dick, which has sold over 600,000 copies. The Collected Poems of Ma Yongbo (four volumes, Eastern Publishing Centre, 2024) comprising 1178 poems, celebrate 40 years of writing poetry.