Born in London in 1943 in a family of musicians. He has lived in Italy, Greece, the USA and Yugoslavia. He deals equally with historical and political material, with inner worlds, and with relationships and everyday life. In the 1970's, he founded and ran the international Cambridge Poetry Festival. His work has been translated into 18 languages.

李察-本思于1943年生于伦敦的一个音乐世家。他曾旅居意大利、希腊、美国和南斯拉夫。他在诗里广泛地处理了历史和政治、内在世界、人际关系和日常生活等课题。他在1970年创办了剑桥国际诗歌节。其作品已被译为18种语言。

1973年生于新加坡。曾求学新加坡、台湾及英国，现为剑桥大学博士生，研究现当代中文诗歌。他曾出版6本文学创作，并获得2004年新加坡国家青年艺术奖。

Born in Singapore in 1973, Chee Lay Tan has studied and lived in Singapore, Taiwan and United Kingdom. With 6 books of creative writings, he was awarded the Young Artist Award by the Singapore National Arts Council in 2004. He is currently researching in Chinese Modern Poetry at Cambridge University.

Poems from Richard Burn's A Book With No Back Cover

Following

选自李察-本思《无背面之书》

随

Lean and strong
Poems, is how I
I want you now, the way

You have to be. There is
Nothing else for it. You
Have to stand up

Against Death and in
The face of Death 
Not collapse.

You have told me,
Throw away your 
Craft, your tricks,

Your techniques, all 
You have learned. I'm 
Following your directions,

So when Death blows or calls 
Me or anyone out, you 
Will pass, last, endure. 
			

精瘦而强健的
诗歌，是我
现在渴望的你，你必须

展现的样子。毫无其他
可能，你
只能矗立。

对抗死亡且
与死亡面对面
决不崩塌

你曾告诉过我：
弃绝你的
巧艺，你的诀窍，

你的伎俩，所有
习得的一切。我正
遵从着你的指示，

所以当死亡将我或他人
吹走或唤走，你
却将穿越，持续，且忍耐。
			

Destinies

命运：剥

1. In the Hall of the Dead 

In a booth behind
The customs hall
Which will admit 

You to death’s country
An empty chair
Is waiting for you

Already. Behind 
A table facing it
Your faceless

Interlocutor sits
Already briefed 
For your interview

On arrival. This
Chair has your
Own name 

Marked on it
Indelibly in
Visible ink.

2. Blink

At the precise
Moment you pass
Over to the other

Side, a butterfly’s
Wings will beat
Behind your eyes

With the thrashing
Force of a whale’s
Tail. In that instant 

Of your going, 
The human face you
Have best known 

All along but not 
Met till now, will
Open to you

In the full blink
Of recognition,
Just in time.
			

1. 在死亡大厅内

在入关大厅
后面，准你通往
死亡之国

的柜台里头
一张空置的椅子
已经等待着你

面向它的一张桌子
后面，端坐着
毫无面目的

你的审判者
与你面谈前
已被叮嘱

抵达之后。这
椅子有了你
自己的名字

以无法抹去的
明显墨汁
标记

2. 眨眼间

就在你
跨越彼岸
的精准

瞬间，蝴蝶的
彩翼将在你眼球后
震动

以一只鲸鱼
尾巴的捶击
之力，在你前进的

霎那，
你一直以来
最熟识却

至今未谋面
的脸孔，即将
展现在你面前

在一个足以识别的
完整的眨眼间，
刚好来得及。
			

An Acceptable Condition

一个可接受的条件

1. The nonplussed pleasures of love

Here I salute the implausible
And nonplussed pleasures
Of love, the needed but 

Difficult kinship 
Even with invisible and 
Interior enemies, the far

Simpler, easier sympathy with 
The non-human, with creatures,
With the felt and observed

Inanimate world, and their
Embodiments and tracks –
And then to the sheer

Facts of my breath, of you 
And me improbably being 
Both here, together, alive. Is 

Death the condition without
Which such a life would be
Unacceptable?

2. Bird up there black

That bird up there
Black black black
Because of the sun 

Behind it, is 
Flying straight
On arcs of air

Into death. Suddenly
There will be total
Airlessness in its

Tiny sturdy lungs and
All its flights forever
Stop. As if the sun 

Had swallowed it,
It will be devoured
In fire. It will dissolve

In your blinded eyes
When you dare look
Straight at the sun.  

3. Untouchable miraculous air

Air keeps spilling
Out of this world
Onto death, almost

As if it were water
From a leaking tap and
Time were the wooden 

Floor it dripped and spilled 
Onto and soaked through
And trickled between planks 

To puddle and pool in down
In cellars and stream through
Soil onto impermeable 

Rock. Since this un-
Touchable miraculous 
Air that slips through my

Lungs will suddenly be 
Taken from me, I drink it
All the more joyfully.
			

1．困惑的爱情喜悦

我在此朝不可能
且困惑的爱情喜悦
致敬，这迫切需要

却艰难无比的血缘关系
即使面对隐形的
内部的敌人，即使是对非人类

对牲畜更加
单纯简易的怜悯，
即使在只可感受和观测的

无生命的世界里，以及它们
的化身和轨迹——
然后向着我

呼吸的全部真相，以及你
和我不真实的彼此同在
这里，一起，活着。难道

没有死亡这条件，
这样的生命就
无法接受？

2．上面的鸟黑

那只上面的鸟
乌黑乌黑乌黑
因为太阳

在后，正
直飞
入死亡

于弓形的空气之上。突然
它细小强健的肺
即将完全

缺氧，而
所有的飞翔将永远
停止。仿佛被太阳

吞噬，
它将在火焰中
解体。它将融化

在你失明的眼里
当你胆敢
直视太阳

3．奇迹般无法触摸的空气

空气不断
从这世界溢出
覆盖死亡，几乎

像是漏泄的
水龙头而
时间是它

滴落、满溢
且浸透的木板地
在板块之间滴流

搅浑并汇聚在下面
的地窖，再涌过泥土
直到无法渗透之

石。既然这奇迹般无法
触摸的
空气将透过我的

肺并骤然
被夺走，我愈加欢欣地
将它饮下
			

Stagnation

否

1. Decay

Skies slept, or looked
The other way.
Exonerate nobody.

The eye of 
Heaven detached.
Justice cataracted.

On earth, men
Slaughtered, fell
And rotted

And the dead
And living dead
Sank deeper in decay.

Darkness flowered
In cruelty. Gracelessness
Numbed hope.

Heaven there, world
Here, and their only
Meeting place, death.
			

1．腐

天空睡着了，或转看
别处。
无人被赦免。

天堂之眼
已经脱离。
正义倾泻。

大地上，人们
被屠杀，倒下
并腐烂

而死者
和活着的死者
陷入更深沉的腐烂。

黑暗在残酷中
如花绽开。希望
被不优雅麻痹。

天堂在彼，世界
在此，而他们唯一的
交会，死亡。