Carnations/ An Old Hand Puppet Master/ That Fellow/ Roses and Guns

original poem 〈康乃馨〉
english translation by Jeats

Carnations


A little girl was muddy on her cheeks 
Her hand reached out asking me for a bouquet of Carnations

“I shall tell my mom, I’ve got Carnations for her.”

She so happily turned around
Running towards the cemetery on the hill

＊＊＊

original poem〈布袋戲老師傅〉 

english translation by Jeats

An Old Hand Puppet Master

Hard bones of the old hand puppet master

Build a lifelong theater platform 

He says it is the hardest thing to play the puppet alive

So cautious of misplay in the show

The old hand puppet master shoulders the House all the way

From Yi Lan to Da Dao Cheng

A Temple fair still remained in the sparse rain

Heaven God was about to play Gong

The old master never disappoint his audience

It’s always while they are waiting for the puppetry

Then he is playing them a good show

Even though they are the deities

Or the ghost fellows with three hands or six arms

＊＊＊

original poem〈那個人〉

english translation by Jeats

That Fellow

With fresh water

With pale fire to boil slowly

Let crabs and fishes one by one

Showing up their eyes 

Alas!

We shall miss that fellow who is

Walking out of abuzz water

A guy of the tea leaf type

＊＊＊
original poem〈玫瑰與槍〉 
english translation by Jeats

Roses and Guns



Strange passengers started to strike camps
Curling up at the corner, Gypsies  
Showed me the direction with Tarot cards
A cap contained his fate

In his cage, he taught some monkeys
How to stand up and bow
The trainer wielded the whip
And decorated them as glittering as himself

Wearing the Halloween mask
The heating and thorny shining stars hung up high, lighting up
Those self-expected and 
Respectful anti-war participants
They carried guns on their backs

From the tents full of joyful laughter
They roamed through the intersection drunkenly
They carried guns on their backs
They inserted roses onto my hoe
Several thorns apart and fell off 
Onto my lover’s bosom