Steady runs her pulse…
steady in a field of liquid
dreams, steady in a murmur
of other possibilities. She
holds steady as the city
breaks open around her: here
there was supposed to be
a skyscraper, and there should
have been a muse… but every
turn yields smaller and smaller
spaces, streets becoming alleys
becoming nooks. She is steady
as the shrinkage steals her
picture-perfect vistas- because
it’s also an exchange: what she
gets is what she’s willing to give up.
* * *
This one includes the rare pleasure of a Chinese translation by the poem’s recipient.
“越来越细微，越来越无垠……”
(for Cao Shufeng ‘s visit to New York.)
她的脉搏，沉稳均衡……
安然流淌于无所不在的
闪亮梦境，且在某些
偶遇的呢喃声中笃定。
她把控这沉静，正如
始终将她冲击的这座城:
这里那儿被信以为真成
摩天高楼，并欲在其间
独享沉思幽冥……尽管
每次将大道转身为小径，
至消失，空间越发渐微，
宛若一连串精彩纷呈的
记忆图景不断被逝去，
她依然沉浸！只因——
这一种转换尤其分明:
有舍才有得，某人云。
* * *
Translation by Cao Shufeng, 4/7/14