There are no city gates here
No city walls, no army, no tanks
There are the people, there are things they care about, there are tents
There is the night sky with no wind, an empty, empty sky
You can watch the TV, the one and only CCTV,
To learn about the world and
Watch live-edits of people hurting people,
The Tape Recorder looks stuck up
In his suit and tie. He’s getting ready to lie
But his eyes are flickering (tape’s stuck, won’t play)
If you smoke too many cigarettes you will smell like one
(The half slice of cheese in the Filet-O-Fish has two corners sticking out
And mayo spilling out, though it’s not too soggy)
The people no longer trust people in suits to lead, they
Sing their own congratulatory anthems, they make discordant sounds in unison
Projecting these words to the stage: Step Down Now
Does the cat want to be onstage or simply to be up high somewhere?
Voices that deserve to be heard will be heard
We don’t know when it started
Suffering means nothing but suffering
We fear future affliction (which we are already enduring)
We fear losing freedom, and transparency left with the last
rays of daylight
(Sorry, too few feet in the last line
This is no place for poetic or human feet)
Our city doesn’t need a gate
The city walls are people linking arms
The army is the dreams we share
Our tent is the sky (we have nothing to hide)
Take a deep breath. At night the pale gleam of the moon.
***
我們是苦難的好孩子
這裡沒有城門
沒有城牆，沒有兵，沒有坦克
有人民，有關心的事，有帳篷
晚上有天空，沒有風，天空很空
可以看電視，專一頻道，看了 CCTV
能知世界大事
有剪摺過的直播，看人民打人民
看錄音機打了領帶
準備說謊話會眼神閃縮﹝又卡帶﹞
如慣性抽菸身上有濃厚煙味
﹝魚柳飽得半塊芝士卻突了兩隻角出來
沙律醬多到漏又唔會太過潤滑﹞
人民不再相信打領帶的人帶領
各自唱祝賀的歌，歌聲雜亂而指向一致
向台上投射請下台的字樣
貓渴望走到台上還是渴望高高在上
應該被聽見的終會被聽到
不知何年何月
苦難就是苦難本身
害怕未來的痛﹝其實一直在忍受著﹞
害怕失去自由
透明早已趁日光離席時同步撤離
﹝一隻韻腳都冇，請見諒
這裡已經唔適合落腳
這裡不需要城門
城牆是人民牽著的手
軍隊就是擁有相同的夢
天空變成帳篷﹝說話光明磊落﹞
抽一口氣，晚上月色微涼
聲韻詩刊 黃絲帶專輯
*****
Lut Ming is a Christian who sometimes writes poetry. He is a practicing doctor, a job that lets him share deeply in other people’s lives. His poems have appeared in Qiu Ying Shi Kan, Platform, Stadt, Ming Pao, Sound & Rhyme, and were included in the anthology Look, Their 21 Grams are Flying. He is also the author of the poetry collection And now abideth.
Hedy Bok is a translator, journalist and actress from Hong Kong. She writes mainly in Chinese and English, and translates both ways. Her nonfiction writings have appeared in Chinese newspapers Mingpao and Xinmin Wanbao.