25 March 2013


Los Alamos Quartet
(T’ang Poems, 4 words x 4 lines in English, Google translated into traditional Chinese characters, and Goggle translated back into English and so on and so on.)

1.
Each one of us
Is held to another
By the same walls
That keep us apart

我們每個人
持有到另一個
由相同的壁
這讓我們分開

Each of us
Hold to another
By the same wall
This allows us to separate

我們每個人
抱到另一個
通過相同的牆壁
這讓我們分開

Each one of us
Hold to another
Through the same wall
This let us separate

2.
Ancient ash, volcano born,
And my hometown now,
Ashes floating the slope
To fill the canyon

古火山灰,火山出生,
在我的家
灰烬漂浮的斜率
了填补这个峡谷

Ancient volcanic ash, volcanic birth
Now my hometown
Ashes floating slope
In order to fill this canyon


3.
Over the long ridge
Down the long incline
To an ashy place
That once was home

在長長的山脊
下長坡
一個灰色的地方
這曾經是家

In the long ridge
Down a long slope
A gray place
This used to be home

 
4.
Glimpse my old hometown
Ashy walls now fallen
Grinding my red eyes
Watered, full of ash

看到我的老家
灰色的牆現在下降
磨我的紅眼睛
澆水,充滿灰

See my hometown
Gray wall is now down
To grinding my red eyes
Watering, full of gray

我的家
灰色的牆壁現在已經下降
磨我的眼睛發紅
澆水,充滿灰色

My hometown
Gray walls have fallen now
To grinding my eyes red
Watering, full of gray