《唐人溪 • 喜鵲》

Photograph by Animal Spot (www.animalspot.net)

 Simon Patton 著

睇睇其外貌，澳洲喜鵲同香港同名嘅雀仔顏色差唔多一樣，身體嘅羽毛都係一半黑色一半白色，黑白圖案構成一種十分明顯嘅對比，同時又好似暗示佢嘅性格太複雜啦！實際上，真實情況真係如此。
Just from the way they look, Australian magpies look pretty much the same as the birds that go by the same name in Hong Kong, one half of their feathers black and one half white. This black and white pattern makes a stark contrast and, at the same time, it hints at its rather contradictory nature! Actually, magpies really are a contradiction.

白色好似可以代表喜鵲美麗嘅方面。我舊年買到一本名為《香港嘅傳統節日》嘅書本，其中有不少令我覺得零舍感觸嘅描寫，而最令我難忘嘅段落就係涉及到七姐節所紀念嘅織女及牛郎嘅描述：“一直到現在，牛郎留喺銀河呢一畔，織女又留喺另一畔，雖然兩人可以見到對方，但係毫無辦法溝通。只有一年一度逢到七月七日嘅時候先至有機會相見。嗰日，世界上所有嘅喜鵲就會飛向上天，用佢哋翅膀造成一條巨大嘅橋，以便織女走到丈夫身旁”。我睇，真正嘅愛情應該係咁樣嘅，擁有行喺幾百萬喜鵲翅膀上面嘅微妙感覺！
The white would seem to symbolize the magpie’s beautiful side. Last year I bought a book entitled Chinese Festivals in Hong Kong. In it, there are quite a number of passages that really moved me, but to me the most unforgettable one of all describes deals with the Festival of the Seven Sisters which commemorates the Weaving Girl and the Cowherd: “There they remain to this day, the Cowherd on side of the Milky Way and the Weaving Girl on the other, within sight of one another yet quite unable to communicate except once a year, on the Double Seventh. On that day all the magpies in the world fly up to Heaven and make a bridge with their wings for the Weaving Girl to cross over to visit her husband.” This is how true love should be, I think ― with the wonderful feeling of walking across the wings of millions of magpies!

香港嘅喜鵲叫聲嘈雜，唔係特別悅耳動聽㗎。澳洲喜鵲反而天生賦有一把非常好聽嘅聲音。平時，好聽嘅雀仔叫聲好似唱歌咁，歌唱般嘅旋律格外吸引人。澳洲喜鵲嘅好聽就截然不同，唔係唱歌而係一種令人陶醉嘅𠺘口聲！喺一般情況下，旋律係一音一音咁唱出嚟嘅，係由一系列單音組成嘅，不過本地喜鵲一開口就突然間創造出類此旋渦般嘅音樂溪流，好難分別出個別嘅節拍。用𠺘口呢個單詞形容佢特有嘅鳴聲或者容易使人產生誤會：講得更加正確嘅係，嗰種聲音類似係天堂下凡嘅天使𠺘口聲！我平時朝早五點鐘起身，嗰時全世界仲係黑蚊蚊嘅，乜嘢都見唔到，但係喺漆黑中通常可以聽到喜鵲喺最為陰暗嘅深處為黎明準備，唱出獨一無二嘅叫醒歌曲。
Hong Kong magpies make a rather raucous sound that is not very pleasant to listen to. But rather surprisingly Australian magpies are endowed by nature with an extraordinarily beautiful voice. Generally speaking, those birds with pleasant singing voices have a melody that is particularly attractive. However, the magpies in Australia are completely different: they don’t sing, they make a kind of intoxicating gargling sound! Ordinary melodies are song note by note, a sequence of single sounds organized into a unit; but as soon as the magpies of this place open their beaks they suddenly give rise to a musical stream of sound like a whirlpool, in which it is hard to distinguish individual notes. Perhaps using the term “gargling” to describe the sound this bird makes may give rise to misunderstandings: to be more precise, that sound is the gargling of angels in Heaven! Usually I get up at five in the morning at a time when the world is still pitch-black and you can’t see anything, but in that utter darkness you can often hear the wake-up song that the magpies have prepared for dawn, singing from the darkest depths of the night.

澳洲喜鵲識得發出好多唔同嘅叫聲，雖然最為突出嘅係嗰種仿效𠺘口聲，但係其實佢哋仲有三、四種其他嘅叫聲，好容易令到你以為係屬於幾種唔同嘅鳥類。自從我搬到鄉下間定居以來，我就慢慢開始學識邊隻雀仔會發出變樣鳴聲，經過一段時間之後就比較有把握唔會認錯，不過仍然仲有一啲「無主」嘅叫聲令到我冇法辨認出嚟。不過，終於有一日，我意識到嗰啲所謂無主嘅叫聲全部都屬於喜鵲：佢喺唔同嘅場所、唔同嘅情況下會唱出好唔同嘅歌，真係太不可思議啦！連年幼嘅喜鵲都有其獨特嘅叫聲，你一聽到就即刻知道年幼嘅喜鵲已經出現喺附近樹林裏面啦！
In actual fact, Australian magpies know how to make a number of different calls. Although the one that imitates a sound like gargling is the most conspicuous one, there are also three or four others that would make you think they were made by a few completely different birds. From the time I first moved to the countryside, I slowly began to learn which bird made which sound and, after a while, I could match the call to the bird fairly accurately, but there were still some calls that were “without an owner” and that I had no way of identifying. Nevertheless, I finally came to realize that all those ownerless sounds belonged to the magpies: rather miraculously, in different circumstances, and under different conditions, they sung different songs! Even young magpies had a special cry of their own, and when you heard that you knew at once that a new magpie had appeared in the nearby forests!

佢哋仲有另外一啲特殊行為。首先，喜鵲好似好鐘意喺地面行路揾嘢食，同烏鴉比起，佢哋行路方式零舍順利，一啲遴迍嘅感覺都冇。有時喺屋外觀察喜鵲時，我會覺得呢種雀仔太懶得起飛，短距離嘅路程佢哋差唔多每次都會選擇運用兩隻黑色嘅腳行過去，除非受到威脅時之外，就好少選擇飛翔嘅方式。
They also have a few other special forms of behaviour. First of all, magpies seem to like walking on the ground in search of things to eat. In comparison to crows, their manner of walking is especially assured and they don’t look in the least bit awkward. Sometimes when I am outdoors looking at magpies, I get the feeling that these birds are too lazy to fly ― over short distances they prefer to walk on their two black legs nearly every time, unless something threatens them. They seldom make the choice of flight.

《蛙文》/ Frogscript 12 • 郭少鳳 Evette Kwok

Please scroll down for the English translation!

《蛙文：蟬》

郭少鳳著

每逢初夏就會聽到「唧唧…唧唧…唧唧」嘅蟬叫。有人好鐘意佢哋，覺得係大自然嘅交響樂，亦有人好憎佢哋：唔記得邊年嘅夏天，聽到一單可笑嘅新聞，有屋苑住戶向物業管理署投訴蟬嗚丶蛙叫，嘈嚫佢，攪到職員要趕蟬，捉蛙。

我當然係鐘意蟬嘅前者，尤其知道佢哋獨特嘅生命週期，聽到蟬叫，簡直係一件值得開香檳嘅事。蟬一般係喺初夏開始鳴叫，盛夏就慢慢消失，令到我一直誤以為蟬只得一、兩個月嘅壽命。但事實並非如此，實際上，蟬嘅一生大部份嘅時間係以幼蟲嘅形式生活喺泥土地下，吸食植物嘅汁液為生，在泥土掩護下避開天敵，慢慢等待成長，最終破土而出。

不過呢種等待特別長，唔同品種嘅蟬等待時間都唔一樣，短嘅都有一年、三年或五年，係呀！你冇睇錯，係以年做單位。更不能不提嘅係北美「十七年蟬」嘅週期蟬，一等就十七年。蟬會揀選夏天嘅夜晚，破土而出，重見天日，爬到樹枝上，為蛻變為成蟲前作出最後準備。佢哋嘅背部會出現一道裂痕，身體就會爬出呢個外殻，傾力振翅，身體會慢慢乾透及硬化，然後開始生命嘅另一階段。呢個過程叫羽化，亦即所謂嘅「金蟬脫殼」，剩下嘅外殼，就叫蟬蜕，是中藥嘅一種。呢一刻真係好神聖，係咪值得開香檳慶祝先？！

不過細心諗諗，經過咗咁多年係濕濕凍凍、黑黑暗暗嘅地下生活，啱啱羽化嘅蟬對於光線同埋和暖嘅温度應該感到相當陌生，而身體同時發生巨大又微妙嘅變化，佢哋如何安然面對截然不同嘅世界、真係我哋好難想像得到！

蟬喺羽化後，就要完成傳宗接代嘅任務，雄蟬會大聲唱歌，吸引異性。有趣嘅係，佢哋可以喺唱歌嘅時間同時進食。原因係佢哋根本唔係用喉嚨唱歌，蟬聲係由振動腹部嘅薄膜而產生嘅。短短幾個星期内，成功交尾之後，佢哋就功成身退，安然逝世。雌性嘅壽命就稍長一點，不過都只係喺產卵後就死亡。

「蟬」與「襌」係同音字，當認識到蟬嘅一生，好難唔將蟬同禪比較。蟬嘅生存目標相當清晰，佢哋雖然需要花一生大部份嘅時間，獨自係一個喺安靜和黑暗嘅環境下慢慢忍耐和成長，當面對巨大改變時，亦能處之泰然，俾我嘅感覺係好「禪」、亦好有大智慧。我對「禪」嘅認識唔多，加上我嘅慧根不足，可能未能講得太清楚，不過我覺得如果能夠向蟬多多學習，必能修練自己嘅耐性，了解自己對人生嘅看法，亦可以幫助我哋更加深刻體會世界嘅“變幻無常”。

Cicada (Photograph by Evette Kwok, 2018)

Nameless Creek (Tai Po Kau 大埔滘)

Mountain water unclouded as crystal
always stills me in my tracks
and I just have to squat beside the anonymous downflow,
watching
with all my nerve
the nuances of what to the eyes is essentially supremely invisible,
while enjoying the endless soothe
of low motion-voices.
The mid-air blur of dragonflies
pinpoints
depth’s liquid action: where an insect skims,
vision registers the ripple delibly made,
just as it does
the flick of a fish the colour of tan sand
against stone’s sawdust-gravel,
a flicker
human instants at a quarter of thought
barely manage to catch hold of.
It’s like feeling the rush of blood in a jungle butterfly’s veins
just by placing
the pace of the breath of the lungs
in an open, sober altering
at the fringe of attention’s outermost
utmost care.

•《發明家，發暗家》

Hong Kong Night Rain (Photograph by Evette Kwok, 2018)

Simon Patton 著

近排 2018 年香港小姐由陳曉華奪得，當佢接受記者訪問嘅時候，就透露自己嘅志願係將來成為發明家，跟住又進一步解釋希望有一日可以為香港長者發明一啲特用設備令到佢哋生活質素能夠有所提升。聽到佢呢段話嘅時後，我覺得陳小姐嘅志願十分值得大家佩服，但係同時又深深意識到自己內心所懷抱嘅志願同佢嘅啱啱相反。
Just recently, Miss Hong Kong 2018 was won by Hera Chan and, when she was interviewed by a TV reporter, she revealed that her aspiration was to become an inventor (in Cantonese, a faat ming gaa or “one who gives out light”). She went on to explain that one day she hoped to invent various kinds of equipment especially to help Hong Kong’s old people and improve their quality of life. When I heard her comments, I felt that they were worthy of everyone’s admiration, but at the same time I was forcefully struck by the recognition that my own goal was exactly the opposite of hers.

對於唔少人嚟講，二十一世紀無疑係一個光明嘅時代，普遍強調嘅係發展、進步、改善、科技、富裕、豪華、方便、舒服、健康、無死。大自然過去曾經帶嚟各種各樣災難性嘅痛苦俾人類，但係而家喺經濟、技術、醫學等方面驚人迅速發達嘅情況之下，反而俾機會我哋終於擺脫嗰啲「黑暗」因素，達到嗰種夢寐以求嘅人間天堂。難道嗰位著名而可憐矇矓派詩人顧城寫“黑夜給了我黑色的眼睛／我卻用它尋找光明”係包含呢一層意思？
For many people, the twenty-first century is undoubtedly an age of brightness, and the emphasis is commonly on development, progress, improvement, technology, wealth, luxury, convenience, comfort, health, and no death. In the past, Nature had brought various kinds of catastrophic pain to the human race, but now ― with the surprisingly rapid advances in the economy, technology and medicine ― we finally had the chance to break free of those “dark forces” and to reach the Heaven on Earth that we had dreamed of day and night. Surely the lines “The dark night gave me dark eyes / But I use them to search for the light” by the famous but pitiable “obscure” poet Gu Cheng contain something of this meaning, do they not?

不過，只要太陽而取消月亮真係完全合理呀？太陽同其喺人間中有嘅「代表」（電力、激光、電腦屏幕、螢光燈、霓虹燈等等）目前已經戰勝咗世界，而且同時將之前嘅幽暗勢力統統開除嗮。不過，崇拜太陽而忽略「太陰」（記得有一次我雲南朋友于堅話我知昆明方言普遍用「太陰」指廣東話嘅月亮一詞）明顯違背咗道家有關陰陽相生嘅基本原則。如果過分強調「發明」而徹底漠視「發暗」會唔會導致一啲可怕後果？
However, is it perfectly reasonable to hold on to the sun and get rid of the moon? The sun, together with its “representatives” on this Earth (electricity, laser beams, computer screens, fluorescent tubes, neon lighting, and so on) have, at the present time, conquered the world and, simultaneously, they have expelled those old forces of the dark for good. Nevertheless, if we worship the Great Yang (taai yeung or “sun”) at the expense of the Great Yin (I remember my friend from Yunnan province the poet Yu Jian telling me that the word for “moon” in Kunming dialect was taai yin [the Great Yin] and not yut, as it is in Cantonese), then we clearly go against a basic principle of Taoism, the principle that darkness and light give rise to one another. If we put too much emphasis on faat ming (“giving out light”) and completely overlook faat am (“giving out darkness”), could this not lead to some terrible consequences?

我近排偶然讀到一篇文，其中提到台灣有個學者叫杜而未，敘述佢對道家嘅「道」字有種新奇睇法，認為嗰個字裡邊個「首」本來係指月亮塊「面部」。呢一塊「月面」喺夜空上由西向東嘅緩慢運行亦都可以解釋道字如何最後獲得「道路」嘅意思。因此，文章嘅作者總結，認為我哋可以由老子人生觀學到唔同嘅道理，例如黑暗總會漸漸趨向變成光明；朦朧不清亦意味著有發展嘅潛力。另外，月相（盈虧）呢種自然現象亦都可以提醒我哋，世界並冇永恆嘅光明，興衰係理所當然嘅，能夠欣賞所謂「衰」所包含嘅正面因素，係屬於人生智慧嘅重要部分。
Recently, I came across an article about a Taiwanese scholar by the name of Tu Erh-Wei who had a novel view of the Chinese character 道 tao that gives its name to Taoism. It was his belief that the part of this character sau 首 (that means “head” in its own right), originally referred to the face of the moon. This “moon face”, which slowly travels across the night sky from east to west, can also explain why the character for tao later came to take on the meaning of “way” or “road”. For this reason, the writer of the article sums up his view by saying that we could learn something from Laozi’s view of human life that darkness will always tend to become brighter, and the connection between obscurity and the potential for growth. In addition, the natural phenomenon of the phases that the moon passes through may also serve as a reminder to us that there is no permanent brightness in this world and that the natural course or rise and decline makes perfect sense ― being able to appreciate the positive aspects of so-called “decline” is also an important element of a wise approach to life.

咁啱得咁橋，陳曉華嘅英文名 Hera 就係希臘神話裡面嘅「天后」，而我每次嚟香港都一定會去拜訪幾座天后古廟。雖然呢類廟宇嘅外面一般裝修好靚，但係內部設計同外貌好唔一樣。由東涌市中心向南邊行三十分鐘路程就可以到達赤鱲角新村，而位於呢條鄉村嘅山門內，有一座規模細小嘅石制天后廟。根據資料，呢座廟宇於 1823 年喺赤鱲角島北亞媽灣興建嘅，但係當新國際機場開始施工嘅時候，就被搬遷至東涌附近嘅新位置。或者因為呢座古廟係以花崗石而造成，所以晦暗嘅內部不期然令人聯想到一個淒涼嘅穴洞，而且由於呢度曾經燒過大量蠟燭線香，天后元君嘅面孔已經徹底薰黑到幾乎認唔出五官嘅地步。不過，雖然廟宇內光線部非常之暗淡，但係天后嗰種獨特靈感真係加倍感覺到。
By coincidence, Miss Hong Kong’s English name is Hera, Queen of Heaven in Greek mythology. Every time a make a trip to Hong Kong, I make sure I visit a few Tin Hou (or Queen of Heaven) temples. Although such temples are generally very beautiful to look at from the outside, their design within is utterly different. Walk 30 minutes in a southerly direction from the Tung Chung town centre, and you will come to Chek Lap Kok New Village. Located within the entrance gate to this village there is small Tin Hou temple made of stone. According to historical records, this temple was built in Ama Bay in the northern part of Chek Lap Kok in 1823, but when work began on the new international airport, it was moved to its present position near to Tung Chung. Perhaps because this temple is made out of granite, the dim interior really does tend to put one in mind of a gloomy cave, and owing to the fact that so much incense and so many candles have been burnt here in the past, the face of the Goddess is so blackened that you can hardly distinguish her features. However, despite the fact that the interior of the temple is so dark, Her special presence can be sensed all the more strongly.

人間中有啲嘢喺模糊中先至可以有機會清晰接觸到，例如直覺、夢想、天籟、領悟、神秘感、敬畏、詩意等現象。呢啲現象，雖然係人類不可缺少嘅部分，但係無法透過光明掌握到。我曾經聽到有人指望空中話：“你哋睇吓，天上有兩個新月！”我一聽到就零舍驚訝，心裡諗嚟諗去，最終意識到，係呀，嗰人講得啱！其實，所謂新月係由兩個部分構成，一個好似眉毛咁細幼嘅明亮部分，同埋另一個幾乎冇法子睇清楚烏卒卒嘅陰影部分，通常被我哋視而不見，真係好得意！
There are some things in this human world of ours that we only have the opportunity to sense in a vague light, for instance the phenomena of intuition, dreams, music, insight, mystery, awe and poetry.  Although such things are indispensable to us as human beings, we cannot grasp them by means of bright light. I once heard someone point to the sky and say: “Look, there are two new moons in the sky!” This surprised me when I first heard it, but after thinking it over I came to the realization that, yes, that’s absolutely right! Actually, what we call a “new moon” is made up of two parts, one bright part as think as an eyebrow, and another part an almost invisible dark, shady part that we ignore even if we see it. How fascinating!

唔係每一個人都能夠變成成功嘅發明家，不過我哋應該記得，除咗發明家之外，一個平衡嘅社會仲需要培養一啲優秀發暗家，並且俾空間佢哋喺過度明亮嘅日常生活中，發揮晦暗特有嘅微妙作用。
Not all of us can become successful faat ming gaa, inventors, but we should bear in mind that, apart from such people, a balanced society also needs to nurture its outstanding faat am gaa, those inventors in the dark, and to give them space in which to exercise those uncanny effects of the gloom in an everyday life already overshadowed by too much illumination.

I Remember Shigatse • Yu Jian (2018)

 

Tashi Lhunpo Monastery. Photograph from https://bloogs.com/

“I Remember Shigatse”

that day in red Shigatse     when I was young     with a travelling bag and a drinking-flask on my back     and on my feet a pair of Liberation running shoes

I strode across fields of highland qingke barley     a forest combed its hair in the mist     dawn rinsed its face     crows bore the name of a divine being

a snow leopard flew in the Himalayas     some Tibetan’s white house stood poised on a hill-top     prayer-flags

fluttered with a pantheon of gods     a paper lion overcame its altitude sickness     as imps and a fine steed

rolled in its erect body     I strode past villages     fortresses     temples     cream-coloured tents     a Tibetan mastiff

roared against a railing     this mighty collector     took care of a Black Hole from the Middle Ages     I had no way of getting near to

bells tolled from high up in the clouds     the Doors of a Whole Household opened     a crowd of matsutake mushrooms put on their caps

the Doors of a Hundred Rivers opened     a hundred thangkas bloomed riotously on slopes covered in a hundred kinds of flowers     a hundred bronze cauldrons

were brewing a whole day’s yak-butter tea     Baidumu stood in a country fair of weiqi chess-players     bearing Tibetan woollen pulu cloth and a love

very soon to be realized    Sakya Monastery was raining     Mount Qomolangma was chanting scriptures     the Doors of the Galsang Flowers opened     every horse

in a pack of horses had lowered its head to the ground     having found the root     a vermilion monk with one shoulder bare pulled out a key from somewhere at his side

the Doors to the Sun opened wide     its brilliance lighting up the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery lost in thought     Doors of Stone opened

the Doors of Wood opened     Doors of Eggs     Doors of Orchards     fathers and sons

worked on the rooves of Autumn     fifty-one years old, Jiangmu’s mother     had a row of white teeth

in her apple of a face     the Doors of the White Poplars opened     I met people spinning prayer-wheels

made of sheep’s hide     people dancing behind white clouds     people offering their hands in support     people walking along roads     people on their way

to Lhasa     these joyous clocks     crawled along the ground     and moved more slowly than time itself     I met with people

lying stretched out in fields of grass     and I met kings without crowns     the mothers of mothers     riders on horseback     ladies of noble birth

necks encircled with turquoise     beautiful woman cooks     a reincarnated descendant of King Gesar     just like a stupa     I met with young girls

like white cranes     bronzed boys     and at the long-distance bus station I met with butter gilded with gold-leaf     as well as people

carrying scars     fleas and love songs     people come from corn and potato     who led me

and guided me past precipices and streams     with hands scythes had once cut into     o     that day in faraway Shigatse

the Doors of the Choir opened     everywhere lips were singing     Jamyang Gyatso     sang in each and every prayer wheel

sorrowful songs     that day     Shigatse was bathed in an auspicious glow     that day     all the doors opened

the white hair of grandmothers hung down in doorways     the world was so old     Beauty was slow in coming     but how I hoped that this was not

the End of the World     that day, with Shigatse lit up in the light of the setting sun     I found the main gate to an Old Heaven     sheep

making their way back home     trod my footprints into the mud’s oblivion as they passed     there was no electricity in Shigatse that day

no hotels     the Doors of the Stars opened     and together with the motionless yaks on a plain of grass

I was glad to be darkness

Notes:

① 勃起的身体中滚着 / 骏马和精灵
I asked Yu Jian about the horse and the imps and he said that all this was in him: “I had become a steed” [我自己的身体内，我成了一匹骏马].

② 一头藏獒 / 在栅栏旁咆哮  伟大的收藏家  保管着中世纪的黑洞  我无法走近
I am still puzzled about the dog being described as a “mighty collector”. Yu Jian explained that he saw it as a kind of spirit [你可以那么想，藏獒在我看来就是神灵]; perhaps he means the kind that protects house and home from unwanted influences. The phrase “meaner than a junkyard dog” also springs to mind in this context: in a way, the dog is both collector and protector of such a hoard. The image of the black hole may refer to the gaping mouth of the dog and to unmodernised Tibet (one characteristic modernization is perpetual bright lighting and the loss of complete natural darkness) and, taking things a step further, to the difficulty modernized individuals experience in approaching other kinds of societies

③ 白度母站在手谈者的集市
Yu Jian does like to literalize words. The word for “chess” here is 手谈, literally “hand talk”. He could have in mind here the scenario he describes in the prose piece “In Lhasa”: “In a certain spot on Barkhor Street, groups of Khampa men do business by thrusting a hand into the sleeve of their trading-partner and moving it around inside. They look as if they’re putting on some kind of play with hand-puppets. An expert on local affairs told me that this was how they haggled. They bargain with their fingers in their sleeves, communicating prices by means of gesture.”

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

回忆日喀则

那一天在红色的日喀则  我正年轻  背着行囊和一壶水  穿着解放鞋

大步穿过青稞地  森林在雾中梳头   黎明洗脸  乌鸦有一个神的名字

雪豹在喜马拉雅山中飞  藏族人白色的房子停在山岗   风马旗跟着

诸神飘扬   一头纸狮子在克服它的高原反应   勃起的身体中滚着

骏马和精灵  大步迈过村庄  城堡  寺院  奶油色的帐篷  一头藏獒

在栅栏旁咆哮  伟大的收藏家  保管着中世纪的黑洞  我无法走近

钟声响起在云端  一家人的门打开了  一群松茸戴好了它们的小帽子

一百条河流的门打开了  一百张唐卡盛开在百花山坡  一百只铜锅

在煮着一日的奶茶  白度母站在手谈者的集市  带来氆氇和将至的

爱情  萨迦寺在下雨  珠穆朗玛在颂经  格桑花的门打开了  马群

低着头  它找到了根  朱红色的僧人袒露肩膀从腰间取出了钥匙

太阳的门大大地打开了  光辉照亮沉思的扎伦布寺  石头的门打开了

木头的门打开了  鸡蛋的门打开了 果园的门打开了  丈夫和儿子们

在秋天的屋顶上干活  降姆的妈妈五十一岁  苹果般的脸上含着一排

白牙齿  天空的门打开了  白杨树的门打开了  我遇见摇着羊皮转经筒

的人  尾随白云跳舞的人  彼此搀扶的人  走在路上的人  要去拉萨

的人  这些快乐的表  匍匐在大地上  走得比时间还慢  我遇见躺在

大草原上的人  遇见无冕的国王  母亲的母亲  骑士  戴绿松石项链

的贵妇  美丽的厨娘  格萨尔王的转世后裔  像一座塔  我遇见白鹤

少女  古铜男子  在长途汽车站我遇见镀着黄金的酥油  遇见那些身上

有疤痕  跳蚤和情歌的人  那些来自玉米和土豆的人  他们牵着我

绕过悬崖和溪流  用被镰刀割伤的手  哦呀 那一天在遥远的日喀则

唱诗班的门打开了  所有嘴唇都在歌唱  仓央嘉措在每一只经筒中唱着

伤心之歌  那一天  祥光笼罩日喀则  那一天  所有的门都打开了

门洞里挂着祖母们的白发  世界如此老迈  美姗姗来迟  但愿这不是

末日  那一天在夕光中的日喀则  我找到旧天堂的大门  一只只羊

在归家  我的脚印跟着它们在泥泞中隐去  那一天日喀则没有电

没有旅馆  星星的门打开了  跟着草原上那些一动不动的牦牛

我甘于黑暗

2018年8月1日星期三在理塘

Michelle and the Insider

She knew the sane feeling
a lithe body in motion can give
just by watching its concentration,
but it felt like a meeting of minds
when she joined her desire
to the face in the perfect mirror.
There was one defect:
the cellular life of her own body
was a butterfly lapsed on a flower,
calm in the jaws of a small spider
smartly acquiring its eyes.
There are no genuine flexions in this world,
she thought. Only reflections, sections
of that delirious, exterior stranger who lives
without us, on our skin.
Eye is Lord, but Michelle saw reason:
she no longer submits
to the mere thrill of being
another’s amphibious smile.

She turned in.

 

《蛙文》/ Frogscript 11 • 郭少鳳 Evette Kwok

Please scroll down for the English translation!

 《蛙文：雀巢蕨》

郭少鳳著

由細細個開始，對植物嘅感覺不大，只係知道植物係生活喺身邊，冇特別留意佢哋嘅存在、佢哋嘅價值。就算去到嘉道理農場工作，最、最、最有興趣嘅都係動物，曾經被人「洗腦」，錯覺以為嘉道理呢個地方已經有齊晒香港大部分嘅哺乳類動物，當時工作嘅其中一個目標就係要親眼見到所有哺乳類，而家諗返起都覺得有啲攪笑。

但係喺嘉道理有一種好特別植物，叫雀巢蕨，改變了我對植物嘅觀感。名乎其實，雀巢蕨嘅外貌似足一個雀巢：啲葉由「巢」中向外環迴一層層咁生出來，中間嘅「巢」係可以收集同埋分解大量嘅枯葉、鳥糞同埋雨水，轉化為自己嘅能量，真係令我讚嘆不已，認識到植物亦有過人之處！

雖然如此，雀巢蕨也有天歒箝制佢哋，我記得有一次同兩位上司一齊行去上山區嘅蕨類植小徑，我嘅部門主管叫我望一望眼前細細樖嘅雀巢蕨，問我有咩嘢特別，我注視了一陣子，終於發現喺「巢」邊新長出嘅嫩葉有被咬過嘅痕跡，原來係被香港嘅一種鹿仔 – 赤麂食咗 。

後來係機緣巧合下，我都食過一次：去台灣旅行時，我最鐘意走入啲小店食嘢，嗰次應該喺係台中，菜單上將素菜分為兩大類，蔬菜類和野菜類，嗰時想試下有台灣特色嘅嘢食，見到有一味叫豆豉炒山蘇，覺得好特別，又未曾聽過，所以就叫咗佢。一上菜，見到個樣我就認得佢啦，台灣嘅野菜山蘇，就係香港人叫嘅雀巢蕨。口感爽爽脆脆，味道甘甘甜甜嘅，唔怪得赤麂都鐘意食啦！

食完山蘇後，當時其實有點罪疚感，因為喺嘉道理時成日教人要保護野生動植物，但自己又走咗去台灣食嘉道理受歡迎嘅野生植物。返到嚟香港，就睇睇網上資料，發覺原來台灣已經有農場專門種植山蘇，有啲種來食用，甚至乎有啲用來當家居植物，個心即時好過一點點！但嗰次之後，去啲唔熟識嘅餐廳，都會盡量小心啲叫嘢，避免食咗啲唔應該食嘅嘢。

雀巢蕨係附生植物，喺香港嘅原生樹林都可以見到，但我又唔可以話佢哋係常見嘅植物，行10次山都未必見到一次，不過最特別嘅係，當你見到佢時，通常都可以連續見到好幾樖。佢哋係蕨類植物，即係唔會開花、唔會結果，咁點樣繁殖下一代呢？我哋可以留意一下佢哋嘅葉，佢哋嘅葉都係同其他植物一樣，透過光合作用產生糖分，但係有啲葉叫孢子葉，喺葉底會有一條條橙黃色嘅孢子囊，䆁放孢子出來，啲孢子就好似種子咁隨風飄去其他地方，只要條件適合，佢哋會附係其他植物上繁殖下一代，所以喺同一環境下，通常都會有一大堆同時出現。而濕濕暗暗暖暖嘅樹林就係雀巢蕨嘅理想嘅生境，反而太光太乾嘅地方會令佢哋嘅葉變黃、太凍又變棕啡色。

雀巢蕨同我哋人類有小小相似嘅地方，都習慣咗喺一個所謂嘅舒適區 comfort zone 生活，未必適應到環境同氣候嘅轉變。其實有時我都會諗：我細細個時，屋企根本冇冷氣機，當時都可以生活得到，亦冇埋怨過；但係如果而家冇冷氣機，係夏天最熱嘅時候，老實講，我都未必可以忍受得到。我哋呢一代人，因科技越來越越好，生活越來越舒適，我哋嘅舒適區可能越來越收窄，人亦變得越來越冇適應力，噉，究竟係咪一件好事呢？我哋應該何去何從呢？

Bird-nest Fern. Photograph by Evette Kwok (2018)

Giving Oneself to Place • Intimacy and Hong Kong Temples (Part I)

Temple at Tsz Tin Tsuen, Tuen Mun (2017)

 

The Shrine of the Earth

Tsz Tin Tsuen 紫田邨 is a small village in the north-western part of Tuen Mun. Its name means “purple fields” in Cantonese. Like virtually everywhere else in Hong Kong’s New Territories, Purple Fields is undergoing intensive “development” and has virtually completely lost its former identity as a farming community. As I made my way up a gentle slope to the entrance, I got a clearer view of new housing estates towering pristine over squat local buildings: the first one I encounter is called Luk Tin Lau 綠田邨 or “Green Fields Estate”, the name a painfully ironic reminder of what once existed where now only a geometrical conglomerate of concrete, glass, and metal stands.

Opposite, overcast in its deep shadow, sits a modest residence probably dating back to the 1950s and bearing the name of Chau Yun 秋園 (Autumn Garden). In this case, however, the name remains true to substance: some of the trees planted around the one-storey dwelling are beginning to shed their leaves, although on this particular day it still feels intensely like Summer. The contrast in design, in scale, in aspiration is simply overwhelming. I had come to Purple Fields primarily to track down a few rough paths (marked on my map with dotted lines) so as to get off the beaten track out to some remoter places, but with all the construction work in progress and the complete transformation of the terrain, finding any of them proved to be impossible.

I bowed my head, partly in resignation to progress, as I passed under the fine formal gate that marks the way in to the village proper, and meandered along the winding main street, lined with unassuming houses and a si do 士多 (“store”) or two which were yet to open for business. Before too long, on a corner block, something caught my eye: a neat, tiled building with couplets engraved in stone on either side of the open ground-floor recess. An altar was just visible through the gloom at the back, and on it were oil-burners, candles, a vase containing the long stems of luxuriant green-leafed lucky bamboo [富貴竹], and dishes piled with cumquats (from the Cantonese gam gat or “golden good luck”). Pink-sticked incense burned in a small bowl of sand just outside the entrance.

I was slightly puzzled by the fact that the temple did not appear to be dedicated to any particular god, but this did not really matter, because the four-character horizontal inscription on the lintel, marked with five pieces of fresh-looking red and gold lucky paper, bore the following remarkable message:

神人共樂
The Divine and the Human, Together in Delight

Without demeaning the supernatural powers, and without at the same time exalting the human beyond the limits of its station, this plain phrase assumes a wonderful intimacy between the two realms. There is undoubtedly reverence implicit in the physical appearance of the shrine — all is spotlessly clean and in perfect order — but there is no trace of the abject piety that so often infects our mortal response to the numinous. I recall to this day my shock and lingering pleasant surprise when I read a passage written by the great modern Chinese translator of Balzac Fu Lei 傅雷 in which he expresses his dislike of the grovelling element in the music of Bach. In this brief Chinese inscription, with its emphasis on mutuality and delight, we are transported to a realm that is so completely unlike that familiar scenario in which a sinful human being kneels in self-abasement before a wrathful deity. There is a hint here at a saner attitude, as well as a much more charming one, in which human pleasure is not necessarily contrary or offensive to the incomprehensible forces that shape this planet.

“I Will Not Let Sadness Possess You”

Wedding Colours. Photograph by Omid Azadibougar (2018)

Chastening to think
even detergent gets its chance to enchant,
wiping wry smiles and misappointment
off heavily adult faces.
(Note: there’s hope for us yet.)
Many kids find a lifetime’s first rainbow
in these transparent, shimmering planets,
lighter than thin air,
but strangely grave with a uranium poetry.
In the end does the rainbow really have to die for us all?
Through the spinning film of their lenses,
our ironic world becomes razor-vivid with renewal,
while the stateliness of their orbits
cannot but direct us
to the hushed intensive care at work
in our only begotten core.
In this atmosphere of convivial weightlessness
chock-a-block with laughter and atypical, unshrewd wonder,
we are invited against smugness —
and against the anti-complacency of wrongheaded zeal —
to sit back and relax
into what the unsung spectacle of these bubbles’ soap-soaring arias
minutely fine-tunes in our birth.

A Big Part of the Poetry of the World

I went into Castlemaine today and I just had to take some photos of the small shunting yard near the station. Tracks, signals, empty wagons: they’re a big part of the Poetry of the World, to my mind.

When I was a kid, I used to ride my bike along the railway line as far as I could get. Of course, I always had to turn back without getting to an end of any kind. I guess, in my childish imagination, that pair of rails stretching all the way into the distance was a concrete image of ETERNITY. I had no idea of the meaning of “end of the line” then . . . One day I cut out an advertisement from the papers for train drivers: that was the job for me, I thought. Mum was horrified.

I was talking to one of the local farmers here the other day, and I happened to admire a huge gum tree near the road. He explained that a sleeper-cutter had come to cut it down decades ago with another nearby tree. Today that tree is a greying stump, but its neighbour survives because it grew too near to Malcolm’s house: the sleeper-cutter thought it might smash the place down. Now most sleepers are made out of concrete, so the job of sleep-cutting is a lost art, vanished forever from the repertoire of labour.

Yes, it’s an odd word, “sleeper”, when it refers to those huge slabs of timber that support railway tracks. I can’t help wondering whether we serve as “sleepers” in our own right at night. What mysterious lines run over our inert dreaming bodies in their beds, and what kind of freight gets carried on them by unfathomable ethereal trains to places we can’t even begin to imagine?