.陈星南中英文诗目錄 / 英文诗集
She appears in radiance
While books jumping to their feet in a barren land
Culture and civilization emerge from horizon
Her soft voice so soothing showers
A war-torn mind with melody notes
Her gaze sent me to deep pondering
Her smile sent my stormy brain wave to new horizon
Homesick, the angel disappears in white T-shirt
Thru the door dashing heading home
Books suddenly shatter, million pages floating around
I close my eyes praying
I feel cool snow flake falling upon me
I see her waving her farewell hand
I open my eyes and discover again the barren landMy soul sinks
She has taken away with her the whole library
Civilization in no more
Nothing leaves but worldly-wise
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Conceived while having dinner on Thursday , 10 June, 1999. Written next day
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The feeding tube rises and falls
In the waves of breathing.
Now she is back to the womb of Mother Earth.
Though paralyzed but alert,
Sensitive to the surrounding,
She feels the comfort and care
After life long agony and untold suffering
Whither she is heading to after the delivery by Nature
--------her eyes rolling, searching for an answer!
Born to a declined landlord family,
In the land where the lion was still fast asleep
And human spirit was toughened by jungle law
Through arranged marriage she settled in a far off land
Leaving all the beloved behind crying three days non stopping
On seeing a lonely house surrounded by rubber trees
She longed for the comfort and dignity in a landlord family
Where troop of maids was at her finger tip
Life is but a moment of time
----- Her eyes blinking, recalling a flashing glimpse!
At the age of seventeen, she began her pilgrimage of human suffering
Hunger, misery, sickness, the pains of loss swirled in a pool
Of Japanese occupation followed her heels to Malaysia
Amidst the dreadful noise of marching troop
A helpless soul, young and pretty, scrambling
For cover in a barren foreign land while husband
Was engaged in a distant place
----- Her eyes turned red in sorrow and despair
Her face distorted with pains frightening
Life is full of questions
At the age of eighty six
where is she heading to?
When will she come to terms with peace?
A strong character seems reluctant
to end her torturing life -----
With a siege of pains her mind eyes saw her husband's belly
blown up with water while the baby son crying
Peace descended eventually.
----- Her eyes now sparkling in relief!
The cycle of war and peace
Turned on and off the rhythm of her heart.
The Eastern Sun sank and now the Red Star was over Malaya.
New villages were created like castles.
Hardship of life continued.
A misfortune for many turned into a blessing.
She was re-settled with a young boy and husband
In a small town she had been longing for years.
The reverse cycle of romance began ----- marriage
Followed by courtship, and the honey moon began
While the sky was red in bloody war
----- I saw the radiance in her eyes!
A proud woman with gentry's upbringing
Always felt herself like a charming flower sticking at dang
Aragon and condescending attitude brook bad feeling
While domineering ruled the days and the swing
Of pendulum was true to see the crumbling
Into an estranged world where the charming flower
Withering at a lonely corner
Unskilled, no means to rely on,
She blamed her misfortune on fate and now
The young child became her destiny
Harbored with hatred longing to take vengeance
She learned to be submissive waiting to see the cycle
of revenge and the turn of her misfortune.
Nature engine kept on producing while love-hate cycle
Moved on like spring followed by winter!
Mood swing was the flying kite
How long could it withstand the pull of hatred?
Now she is lying flat on bed
And how long could she resist the pull of gravity?
Now she sees the space next to her husband's photo
On the tomb-stone awaiting an untold mystery
----- Her face looks gloomy, and lips trembling!
Life is but a leave floating on oceans,
Bracing the tower of huge waves in a far off soil,
Lonely, helpless, living with suspicion,
She only finds comfort and happiness in her dream.
An only consolation with a slight of thought
In meeting someone she likes or loves----
A never ended recall of someone looking
At her when she was at her teen in China.
And the one who cared for her misfortune.
Her spirit leaped the moment she hummed
The favorite tune at her teen, "…sisters stand up!"
----- She has no way to stand up, her eyes full of tears!
Written at Singapore's East Coast Park. MacDonald's
1. November 3, 2001, 9:30 am - 10:08 am (to be continued)
2. November 4, 2001, 8:33 am - 9:39 am (to be continued)
3. November 18, 2001, 9:00 am - 9:59 am (disrupted)
4. November 24, 2001, 9:18 am - 11:36 am
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Brain Images : The Agony of Life
Tongue dry throat rough
I hear tap water running
The smell of steaming coffee
Stomach thundering
The world turns black
Two fish balls rolling
Out of my skull
Cool and cold
Thin clothes but a sheet of ice
Warm thought shivering
Eskimo's fur appears in ice blocks dome
Children's running parent's scolding
My grown-up child in far off land
A lonely man at a corner sitting
Whither and destiny pondering
Sexy bounding balls
A lonely bed chilled with air blowing
A proud heart, agony accompanied
Fire in morning glow suffering
Silently ever aching in cold
A moment of drive
The naked look cold
But fire the pent-up heat
Sorrowful, angry, getting up in dark
Take a flight to no where
Whither to go
Composed at East coast Park MacDonald's
Monday,December 17, 2001
9:58 - 10:36 am
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Strong Pride
In a green field a muddy patch
Where black birds throng
Appears like dark mashed
Chocolate, no fun but sticky
In this gloomy world
Smelly bright feathers shining
Screaming high and low
Wild, but with dignity
Suddenly my thought flies wild
And my mood sinks into melancholy
In the abyss of despair
Churning up a visual image in my mind
A condescending thundering scorn
The burning eyes despise
Turning around like fire
And I feel the laser beaming at my eyes
In despair, run, run, and run
Whiter to go ?
Healing slowly, times tick, tick, and tick forever
A line is always crossing an image
In the broken mirror though well repaired
Note: Composed at Mcdonald’s, East Coast Park, Singapore, Dec 17, 2001, 8:30 - 8:49 am. I see the black birds happily playing around with dignity after rain while I am sipping at my coffee alone. They are despised because of the black feather, and considered useless, and I feel very lonely like a free slave living in a small comfortable prison within a relatively cosy castle without wall. Human beings are born with the obsession of dignity without which there will be no creativity whatsoever. You may take away their bread, but not dignity.
Melody in Green Land
(绿島小夜曲) *
A piece of Bobia squeezed in chopsticks
Watery my mouth is
Everything hangs in balance
Melody notes floating in air
The sweet echo carrying Nantah
around the world
Stirring up storm in my mind
pond in Yunan Yuan
A melody recalling the rain and storm
A paradise lost in intrigue
decayed and gone in West Wind
with century wisdom
Now , an aging soul, a piece of Bobia
dangling seducing him
beholding the horizon
Nothing but a Green Island beside the pond where the charming girls displaying their feathers
Now the fair sex has turned grey
And my Bobia begins to sigh
The tune still harpping on the past
So romantic, so sad, struggling
I see my Bobia sadly waiting
Telling the coming of the East Wind
The melody sings on melancholy
I feel West Wind rushing
while the East Wind strolling
around the pond
I wake up when the time disappears
Suddenly I hear a splash
My Bobia has dashed to its death
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* 有部份南大同学， 把《绿島小夜曲》當校歌。每當我听到， 就会想起风风雨雨的云南园。當時在小贩中心用膳， 听了心潮起伏， 遂匆匆而作。这个島是当时台湾关压反国民党急進派人物的扣留所. 原稿未发表过, 近日翻阅，过往云烟又湧上心头，热淚橫流看云南，激情之下， 顺笔修整! 陈星南 識，草于 叶都 听风楼，時为 02/12/2020.
Composed at a hawker Centre, Clementi, Singapore, at 7:03 p.m., on 11 March, 2002 with a H/P handheld computer, recopied at 10:54 a.m., on 17 July, 2002
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Outing at Weekend in Kunming
Burning heat again after
Bone chilly early morning’s blowing
Thin clothing buffers but filtering
Struggling in vain my body
Shivers in quick hammering
Umbrella quivers shielding off
Tiny rain drops and fold
In dry warm
Endless crowd churning
Non-stop as if currents
Have swept onshore
Restlessly I was washed
By human torrents taking
Refuge at the KFC
Heat sipping layers of clothing
Winter and summer mix – torture
Standing still in the midst of human noise
Sweat and relentless squeeze
What a comfort feeling of the heat
From The fried chicken
Note: Written on 14 May, 2006, at the KFC, second floor, 南 屏 街…, Kunming city
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Umbrella Danced in Rain
Torn between rush and search
I was walking past a row of shops
Looking for disc bags – my dream
Ones hidden somewhere
The rain drops were chasing behind me
I felt the cool sipping and filtering through thin clothes
Hardly strong enough to cover
a steaming body
Praying to ease my anxiety I fixed
My eyes on the hands of the watch clicking
Heavily with each strong stroke
They marched thundering
It seems the world had sunk in echo
And current of the crowd
Disappeared in hammering drops
Impatiently shooting
Their umbrella against the heaven
In a drift, I was washed into a media shop
Excitingly I browsed through
Interesting titles and possessed the world
Suddenly, I felt dizzy, balancing like an astronaut
In human heat and smoke
Subconsciously, I dashed into
the rain seeing umbrella lining up in dragon dance
My face lit up with my waving hands
Stretching out, but in vain
Cold wind blew around long faces,
Cool eyes and motionless mouths
I felt moving among the ancient sculptures
Posting a human face
Written in the KFC, 南 屏 街 , 昆 明
Sunday, 25 June 2006, 5:15 p.m.
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Bless to Zhoma
The Airbus A320 carries
My flesh towards the South
My mind’s eyes see the charging train2
Through Tonggula’s mountain
It carries the pride of the Chinese people
After century of humiliation and suffering
I hear the churning rhythm
Singing along the frozen land
Wakening sorrow and deep hurt
The Airbus stands still
The Earth keeps on rolling
My mind frozen
Suddenly, I hear something
My heart leaps up
Oh! What a wonderful voice
Zhoma is coming
High on the plateau
Moving freely on grassland
Singing among the herds
She sings from her heart
So real, so pure, so sincere
Bless to Zhoma
Bless to all humankind
Untainted with worldliness
Oh, Zhoma
You open your heart to the mountain
You devote your soul to the grassland
Your mind surfs in green air
Your songs swim in purifying water
Merging with the universe
Your songs like the morning dews
Cool and mind easing
Dropping on a solitary soul
Suffering from surveillance
Nerve-racking persecution
Oh, Zhoma
Now you are free
Free to live like a human being
The serfdom in Tibet is long gone
You see, you all see
The passing souls of the serfs
Dancing around the charming voice
Note: This poem was written on my way back on board Airbus A320 from Kunming between 4:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.,
on 18 July 2006 to Singapore after my trip to Shangrila and Luku Lake.
1 A common name of a young Tibetan lady. “卓玛”是藏族对女子的称呼.
2 The train started the historic journey from Beijing to Tibet on the 1st July 2006. I live to regret for being unable to make this first trip to witness the great moment despite after much effort.
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