Zheng Min: One Glance (From Chinese)

One Glance
By Zheng Min
Translated by A.Z. Foreman

Rembrandt: Young girl at a half open door


What's beautiful are those two shoulders sinking
Into shadows locking the orchard-rich chest
Only the radiant face appearing as a dream of a sudden
Corresponds to the slender fingers on the low gate, at rest

And the river of time bears off another leaf from the tree
From her half-lowered riddling eyes flows such a dazzling silence
Her unchangeable calm is headed for a limited life — as she
Casts one long-lived glance at this changeling world in a chance twilight

The Original:

一瞥
郑敏

优美的是那消失入阴影的双肩，
和闭锁着丰富如果园的胸膛
只有光辉的脸庞像一个梦的骤现
遥遥的呼应着歇在矮门上的手，纤长。

从日历的树上，时间的河又载走一片落叶
半垂的眸子，谜样，流露出昏眩的静默
不变的从容对于有限的生命也正是匆忙
在一个偶然的黄昏，她抛入多变的世界这长住的一瞥。


注：此诗有关荷兰画家伦伯朗的一幅画《门口的年轻女子》。