Christopher Okemwa [Kenya]

Maple Leaves (and other three poems)

I wish to stay in Taiwan

till October, or November

or December

to wait for autumn

and drink the sweet air

of this spectacular season

to wash through the experience

of witnessing the maple leaves

to see the falling foliage

and to feel the happiness

the excitement

the charm of nature

I wish to stay in Taiwan

a little more, a little more

and camp at Taipei Aowanda

to sleep in the flora and fauna

to see the red and yellow

to experience hot springs, barbecues

to sit outside Xizhi Gongbei Temple

and close my eyes in prayer

and see in a vision

the body of Guanyin Bodhisattva,

Guan Gong, and the Earth God.

then sit upright

to now watch the maple trees turning red

Go into Wulai forest

a picturesque scene

stand on the bridge and see

the whole world in front of me

turn red and pale yellow

I wish to live in Taiwan

more and more days

and walk along the woods

into Taiping Mountain forest,

savour in the rolling landscapes

dotted with purple-leafed maple trees.

climb up the alluring La-la mountain

to watch the red cypress forest,

a stunning crimson landscape

Take me to a miniature peaks, too

Manabang Mountain

a breathtaking landscape

Let me talk to Bunun people

and listen to their songs and stories

I wish to stay in Taiwan

till October, or November

or December

to wait for autumn

to wash myself through

a pellet of colours

pale yellow and crimson red

Time

Time does not fly

It is not like a bird that flaps the distance

between one hill and another

Or a buzzard that explores the cosmos

Time is stagnated

like a stone or a boulder

that rots the grass

or a hill, that stands beside the valley all years

It is not like a cloud that shifts across

the ocean of the sky

or a moon that, slowly, scales the night sky

Or a river, snaking from a hill to the ocean

Time is stagnated

The past and the future collapses into one present

while time remains a dream,

a stagnated imagination

we remember the past, we dream of the future

Life, at birth, walks leisurely across our

forehead, opening the eyelids

a while after, death too strolls across the

temples, wrinkling the forehead,

then finally closes our eyelids.

A Thick Foliage of Existence

Life itself is a path

paved with thorny undergrowths

tenuous,

labyrinth,

crooked

A tunnel, with darkness at the end

or light

or, at times both

or, at worst, none

a thick foliage of existence

a bottomless ocean

such a path with

blurred goals, ambitions,

achievements

failures

celebrations, but also

funerals

desperations

wading through such ocean

I can’t make a purpose

or set a goal

or aspire to achieve anything

it is a blurred picture

Therefore, then, let me allow myself

to wander like a cloud

or a kite

or an eagle

in the wide expanse of the sky

and, in my wanderings,

in my aimlessness

I will find whatever is interesting

whatever makes my soul happy.

Love

love is like new shoes

the smell of it is overwhelming

laces are white like snow

the eyelets firm and intact

the sole spotless

by and by

days come and go, come and go

the shoes must touch the ground

the mud

the dust

the laces lose their glory

the eyelets drop off

the sole stinks

the colour of the shoes fade

and the wearer develops corns, calluses

and his feet are pinched

the toe pains

love is like new shoes.

克里斯托弗·奥克姆瓦[肯尼亚]

枫叶(外三首)

我想驻留台湾

直到十月或十一月

或十二月

等待秋天的到来

品尝甜美的空气

在这个壮观的季节

洗礼这段

见证枫叶

观赏落叶的经历

感受幸福

激动

大自然的魅力

我想驻留台湾

再久一点，再久一点

在台北奥万大露营

睡在植物和动物群落中

观看红色和黄色

体验温泉、烧烤

坐在汐止拱北寺外

闭上眼睛祈祷

在幻象中目睹

观音菩萨的肉身，

关公和土地公。

然后正襟危坐

看着枫树变红

走进乌来森林

风景如画

站在桥上看着

我眼前的整个世界

变成红色和淡黄色

我想驻留台湾

更多的日子

沿着树林散步

走进太平山森林

品味点缀着紫枫树的

连绵起伏的风景。

爬上迷人的拉拉山

观赏那红柏树林，

令人惊叹的深红色景观

也带我去一座微型山峰

马那邦山

令人叹为观止的风景

让我和布农族人交谈

聆听他们唱歌和讲故事

我想驻留台湾

直到十月或十一月

或十二月

等待秋天

将自己洗涤成

淡黄色和深红色的

小球

时间

时间不会飞

它不像一只在远方拍打羽翼的鸟儿

飞过一座又一座小山

或像一只探索宇宙的秃鹰

时间就像一块石头或一块巨石

停滞不前

让青草腐烂

或像一座小山，终年矗立在山谷边

它不像一朵云，飘过

天空的海洋

或像一轮明月，缓缓划过夜空

或像一条河流，从山丘蜿蜒流向大海

时间停滞不前

过去和未来坍塌成一个现在

而时间依然是一场梦，

停滞的想象

我们回忆过去，我们梦想未来

生命，在诞生之时，从容迈过我们的

额头，睁开眼睑

不久之后，死亡也漫步穿过我们的

鬓角，皱起额头，

最终合上我们的眼睑。

厚重的存在之叶

生命本身就是一条道路

布满荆棘的灌木丛

脆弱，

迷宫，

曲折

隧道，尽头是黑暗

或光明

或者，有时两者皆有

或者，在最坏的情况下，什么也没有

厚重的存在之叶

无底的海洋

这样的一条路径

模糊的目标，野心

成就

失败

庆典，但也有

葬礼

绝望

在这样的海洋中徜徉

我无法制定一个目标

或设定一个目标

或渴望实现什么目标

这是一幅模糊的图画

因此，那就让我

像云一样飘荡

或像风筝

或像一只雄鹰

在广阔无垠的天空中

在我的漫游中，

在我的漫无目的中

我会找到任何有趣的东西

任何让我的灵魂快乐的东西。

爱

爱如新鞋

气味令人难以抗拒

鞋带洁白如雪

鞋眼坚固完好

鞋底一尘不染

日复一日

日子来了又去，去了又来

鞋子必须触地

泥泞

尘埃

鞋带失去光彩

鞋眼脱落

鞋底发臭

鞋子褪色

穿着者会长出鸡眼和老茧

他的脚被夹住

脚趾生痛

爱如新鞋。

          （张智博士 译；Tr. Dr. Zhang Zhi）

About the author

    Christopher Okemwa is a literature lecturer at Kisii University, Kenya. He has a PhD in performance poetry from Moi University, Kenya. He is the founder and current director of the Kistrech International Poetry Festival in Kenya. His novella, Sabina and the Mystery of the Ogre, won the Canadian Burt Award for African Literature in 2015. Its sequel, Sabina the Rain Girl, was selected for the UN SDG 2 Zero Hunger reading list. Okemwa is the editor of Musings during a Time of Pandemic: A World Anthology of Poems on COVID-19; I Can't Breathe: A Poetic Anthology of Social Justice; Coming out of Isolation: An Anthology of Poems on Triumph, Resilience, and Hope; Ukraine: A World Anthology of Poems on War; and most recently, Kistrech Poetry Anthology: Celebrating Ten Years of Poetic Experience. He has published twelve collections of poetry, ten folktales of the Abagusii people of Kenya, four oral literature textbooks, four children's storybooks, one play, and two novels. He has read and performed his poetry in Spain, Turkey, Vietnam, Taiwan (China), Belgium, Northern Ireland, England and Dubai.

作者简介

  克里斯托弗·奥克姆瓦，肯尼亚基西大学的文学讲师。他拥有肯尼亚莫伊大学行为诗歌博士学位。他是肯尼亚基斯特雷奇国际诗歌节的创始人和现任总监。他的中篇小说《萨比娜与食人魔之谜》，荣获 2015 年加拿大伯特非洲文学奖。其续集《雨女萨比娜》入选联合国可持续发展目标2零饥饿阅读书单。奥克姆瓦是《疫情期间的沉思：关于 COVID-19 的世界诗选》《我无法呼吸：社会正义诗选》《走出孤独： 关于胜利、韧性和希望的诗选》；《乌克兰：世界战争诗选》，以及最近出版的《基斯特雷奇诗选： 庆祝十年诗歌经历》的编辑。他已出版 12 部诗集，10 部肯尼亚阿巴古斯人的民间故事、4 部口头文学教科书、4 部儿童故事书、1 部戏剧和2 部小说。他曾在西班牙、土耳其、越南、中国台湾、比利时、北爱尔兰、英国和迪拜朗诵和表演诗歌。