第1783期：桥

诗：桥

作者：佛老

English translation: Fuolao

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桥 不一定都有汉白玉栏杆

Not all bridges have jade rails

也不一定都能跨越什么河流

Nor do they stride over rivers

如果此岸已是地狱

If hither is inferno

谁能保证彼岸就是乐园

Who can say thither is Eden?

桥上 不一定都能行走

Not all bridges are good for walking

桥下 不一定都有钓鱼的老头

Nor will you see old men underneath fishing

柴王爷 张果老

Lord Chai, Master Zhang

锣鼓喧天

With such a fanfare

也只轧出了

What’d they got?

牛郎织女 一道沟

Nothing but a miniature galaxy

如果要过墙

To climb over a wall

你需要的是梯子

You need a ladder

要翻河

To cross a river

你才需要桥

That’s when you need a bridge

桥上素来没什么

But there is nothing up there

如今人们

Nowadays people hide out far under

泰半躲在桥下看风景

Sneak peek – peekaboo

桥头太高

The bridge stands too high

桥身太拱

Almost a hunchback

桥上于是派了衙役把守

So guards are posted on the bridge

三班六房 吆五喝六

A group of them, daunting, haunting, 24/7.

桥下的水

Water under the bridge

依旧向东流

Flows eastward as usual

人们从诺亚方舟

People on the arc of Noah

派了一群动物

Dispatched a team of animals

去试探河水深浅

To detect the depth of the river

几十个昼夜

Dozens of nights out

却只飞回一只鸽子

Only a pigeon completed the mission

口中衔着一根棉签

With a cotton swab in its mouth

洪水退了 走不走？

The water is gone. Go or no go?

谁听过小马过河？

Who said only ponies know how deep a river is?

也可以是一口猪 一匹牛

So does a pig or a bull

桥上一头驴,桥下一条鱼,

A donkey on the bridge, under it a fish

驴钓起了鱼,鱼骑走了驴。

The donkey angles the fish, the fish bestrides the donkey

去年

Last year

就在这里

Right here

活活打死了一个狗

A dog was beaten to bloody death

江桥摇

The river, the bridge, both shaky.

外婆桥

Row row row the boat to the grandma bridge

桥上吊刀

A long knife hanging

倒吊刀桥

Dangling in the breeze

不要秋风

Call back the autumn wind

只要烈酒

Give me throat-tingling spirit

在这个愁死人的凌晨

On this depressing morning

英雄骑上马

The hero mounting his horse

蒙着面

Face masked in grief

不向皇帝 叩头

Refused to kowtow to the emperor

在这个没有英雄的年代

In this hero-less era

我放下刀枪剑戟

I drop my swords and spears

四顾茫然

Lost in wilderness

找不到对手

Hunger for a rival