Birds of
Morning Glory
Issue 8
Poems on wild birds in Hong Kong by Stuart Lau
白鷺鷥被抓
――大埔市民舉報有人捕捉白鷺鷥當野味進補，漁護署表示會加強巡查。
晨光之鳥
收起黑夜的長足
劃過混濁的河面
再遽地抽升、歛翼
時間無法定格
在高枝上顧盼
顯得更從容自若
塵世的本相自卑起來
有的伸出了長鏡仰望
突破城市平面的維度
當傳說的觸角廝磨
交流訊號——有否感到
有更高的目光在默默垂注
你的超然成了自卑者心中的削璧
壁上的暗角因你的潔淨
無法推展誇詞囊括的極限
毅然銳成怨恨衝向你
你被擊落、囚禁
折翼，慢煮
要將月光的精華
都熬進漆黑中
城市陷入
百年的朔夜裏
決絕如寒刃，只有
你飄零的羽毛
可將之美化為
一彎月相如車軌伸向
每人心中的天涯反復
感懷晨光浮現如常
寫於14/07/2022
Egrets Being Caught
Tai Po residents report someone catching egrets to make tonics. The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department says it will step up patrols.
Bird of morning glory
retracts the long legs of night
slides past the smudged surface of the river
then lifts abruptly, has its wings folded
Time cannot be pinned to a stop
Eyeing from a branch high above
it looks more at ease
The earthly feel inferior
as some stretch their telephoto lens to look up
breaking through the dimension of the flat city scope
When the legendary tentacles are caressing each other
exchanging signals—do they feel
being watched silently by some higher gaze
Your aloofness becomes the precipice of the sordid
Your cleanliness blocks
the extent to which brags can bag on the dark corners
Resolutely they sharpen into hate and hurl themselves at you
shoot you down, cage you
break your wings, stew you
till the essence of the moon
simmers into darkness
The city is trapped
in a moonless night that will last a hundred years
stony as a cold blade, only
your drifting feathers
can beautify
and turn it into a track-like crescent moon
the skyline in each person’s heart which repeatedly
recalls with emotion how the day dawns as usual
男童院上空的麻鷹
—— 鰂魚涌太古坊辦公室外望
如此悠然便能騰升
至矮山的高度
十足的握勁加上
彎刀一樣的爪，該是
神自豪的創造
為甚麼不俯衝攔下
鼠輩鮮活的血氣循環？
要像操場上的我
那樣被勒令繞圈子
明明在食物鏈的高端
可無罣礙地盡展威儀
偏偏你卻選擇吃腐
難道你擁有第三隻眼睛
可感應到靈魂正掙脫
肉身的囚禁，你的喙上
是天葬師的冷凝開了鋒
當你選擇釋放我的靈魂
回到輪迴的軌跡，我卻趨前
驅趕，不能讓鼠餌的毒性污染
天上盤旋的聖域，我的靈魂
一半留在不瞑的鼠目
一半攝進騰升的鷹眼
寫於23/09/2022
The Black Kite over the Juvenile Home
Looking out from the Taikoo office in Quarry Bay
To rise so effortlessly
and reach the height of a hill
Powerful grip plus
scimitar-like talons, should be
the proud creation of God
Why not swoop and stop
the vibrant circulation in scoundrels?
Instead, like me on the sports ground
you are compelled to go around in circles
you who are clearly at the top of the food chain
with no hindrance to the showcase of your majesty
Yet you choose to eat carrion
Isn’t it because you have the third eye
to sense the soul struggling to leave
the prison of the body, your beak
the edged front of the solid-cold of the sky-burial master
When you choose to release my soul
to return it to the path of reincarnation, I advance
and repel, not allowing the toxins of the rat bait to pollute
the holy territory circling in the sky, my soul
half stays in the rat eye that is not at peace
half is snapped by the soaring falcon eye
麻雀
每天的腳蹤有一半都帶著你們的身影
降落、群聚、撿啄，如此輕鬆
便圍起了我的童年，時間的薄翼
在圓圍以外，漸漸消溶
就像那些怎樣想也想不起的詩句
在努力撇除滄桑的城市裏
空氣裏都漲滿建設的信息
你們原始的泥黃，不容於通用郵票的行列
即使本地的郵值，也嫌你不夠斑爛
身世裏更掏不出瀕危的坎坷
追隨陽光傾斜的指引
你們躍到店鋪地毯的血紅中
撿啄「歡迎光臨」坑紋裏的瑣屑
輕盈的身影，似乎在盤算流浪
不斷拉長，只差一點點便溢出地毯
店鋪吐出載過貨的紙箱驅趕
你轉身飛到鐵路的風櫃
冒著排出的逆風，你依然恪守
出生那天的節奏，在黃昏開始點算以前
平凡的街道因你的怡然而獲得裝點
這麼多年了，我依稀記得你奄奄一息的樣子
還給你輕蓋上紙巾當作被子，彷彿明天便會痊癒
醒來發覺你已離開了羸弱的軀體
我把你放進衛生紙的捲筒中，兩端堵上大團棉絮
葬在大學山邊的花圃中
你復活了，抱歉現在才認出你
近處街燈的直角與遠方大廈的外牆
互不認識，卻共同框起了落日
你轉身飛進畫面的右上角
彷彿哼著歌兒的郵戳確認宣揚
寫於23/06/2008
Sparrows
Everyday, half of my footprints are accompanied by your silhouettes
Landing, clustering, picking and pecking, so relaxedly
was my childhood surrounded, the thin wings of time
gradually melted outside the circle
just like the verse that keeps eluding me
In a city that strives to erase its vicissitudes
the air is bulging with the message of construction
Your primitive colour of ochre is ineligible for definitive stamps
Even the local postage value despises you for not being iridescent
There is no hardship of endangerment to extract from your life
Following the sun’s slanted guidance
you hop into the blood red of the shop’s rug
and peck at the crumbs in the grooves of the printed ‘Welcome’
Your light figure seems to be pondering on a vagabond life
Stretching, it nearly spills over the rug
The shop spits out used cardboard boxes which drive you away
You turn around and fly to the ventilation cabinet of the railway
Against the headwind discharged, you abide by
the tempo since your birth. Before the evening does the counting
the banal neighbourhood is adorned with your ease
So many years have passed. I remember vaguely your dying face
I even tugged you in with a tissue, as if you would get better the next day
I woke up only to find that you had already left your puny body
I put you in the core of a toilet paper roll, both ends blocked with a large cotton ball
and buried you in the flower bed at the hillside of the university
You have come back to life. Sorry I didn’t recognize you until now
The right angle of the nearby street lamp and the facade of the distant building
don’t know each other, yet are framing the setting sun
You turn around and fly into the top right corner of the picture
as if you were a humming postmark confirming promotion
翠鳥
有意蓬葉間，瞥然下高樹。
擘波得潛魚，一點翠光去。
—— 錢起〈銜魚翠鳥〉
1 有意蓬葉間
佇立在樹枒上
看陽光在蓬葉間變不同的臉
尖長的喙是日咎的魂靈
在午後的暖土上
尋找軟化時光的餘地
幽幽的山影遠去
城市的樓廈後退
等待的淚，儘管惺忪
滴下，總可教夢的唇線
再笑開一點
2 瞥然下高樹
你看天很高，但不遠
再看，卻是很遠，但不高
風在雲隙間擦弄翅膀
雲從風的翼尖收集遺落的露珠
日子的胸膛如常起伏
陽光拉不開你身上那一帆蔚藍
便鬆散成初秋高亢的旅意
你相信它就在身下倒映的天色中
靜待你的祈求
夢在歛翼下呵盡了悶氣
你傾身下躍，它便活現為
五個充飢的餅以外的
潛魚
3 擘波得潛魚
陽光描亮祂下潛的來路
一群一群的游魚繞著光柱盤旋
香檳色的光芒中水紋掀動祂的回憶：
星星與花蕾，草坪跟朗月
蜉蝣像明亮的魚話唼喋
要幾許年月的石化
才能封印對錯失的哀悼？
你停在半途，下方是寂寞永夜的沈睡
頭頂的游弋搧來一點一點的暖
祂選擇冒升如覺悟的旗
穿過時間的光環
道破陽光水面上的叩問
來吧！死亡的喙
祂獻身成就你夢中的玫瑰綻放
請載祂的精神回到母親的唇邊
4 一點翠光去
夏天的熱鬧，撤離它的意識
當你的喙夾緊祂的肉身
往日珍視的傷口
都變成了石頭的沈默
太陽不再是早晨唯一的明亮
祂的血像愛的感應淌流
為羈旅的天涯灑上節慶的激越
你欣然的接受是活下去的承諾
一點翠光如秋收的鐮刀
劃破歲月的金黃
一邊是堅執的悵憾
一邊是寬宥的怡悅
寫於03/09/2005
The Kingfisher
Mindful of the lush green,
It swiftly plunged from a tall tree.
Having parted the water to get the hidden fish,
It left as a spark of jade light.
'Kingfisher Holding a Fish' by Qian Qi
1. Mindful of the lush green
Standing on the bough
watching the changing faces of sunlight between the lush greenery
the long pointed beak being the soul of the sundial
in the afternoon warm soil
it looks for room to soften the speed of time
The dim mountain shadows recede
the high-rises of the city retreat
The teardrop while awaiting, albeit still sleepy
falls, the dreamy lip line
may laugh and open wider
2. It swiftly plunged from a tall tree
The sky looks high, but not far
On a second look, it is far, but not high
Wind flaps its wings between clouds
Clouds collect the dewdrops left behind by the wing’s tip
Days’ chest rises and falls as usual
Sunlight cannot spread the sail of blue on you
that is slack with a yearning for a trip in early autumn
You believe that it is in the reflected sky below
waiting for your prayer
Dreams have yawned and let out all dejection under your folding wings
You lean forward and plunge, it comes alive
in addition to five filling loaves
as hidden fish
3. Having parted the water to get the hidden fish
Sunlight illuminates his diving path
A school of fish circling the beam of light
In the champagne light, the ripples stir up his memories
of stars and flower buds, lawn and the moon
Mayflies act like bright fish chats
How many years does it take to stonify
so that the mourning for losses can be sealed?
You pause half-way, beneath is the slumber of a lonely night
The cruising fish overhead bring a little bit of warmth
He chooses to rise like an enlightened flag
passes through the halo of time
and reveals what the sun asks on the water
Come! The beak of death
He scarifies himself to become the rose blooming in your dream
Please take his spirit back to his mother’s lips
4 It left as a spark of jade light
The bustle of summer has withdrawn its consciousness
When his body is clamped in your beak firmly
the cherished wound of the old days
has become the silence of stone
The sun is not the only light of dawn
His blood flows like affections
sprinkling the stranded distant place with festive zest
Your willing acceptance is the commitment to live
Like a sickle in the autumn harvest, the jade light
slices open the yellow gold of years
on one side is the persistent regret
on the other is the forgiving joyfulness
Stuart Lau（劉偉成）(poet, essayist, critic; Hong Kong) An Editorial Director at Oxford University Press (China), Lau has just completed a PhD at Department of Humanities and Creative Writing of Hong Kong Baptist University, （香港浸會大學 人文及創作系）. He has published five poetry collections; the most recent, How Broad Are the Plank Roads of Sunshine（《陽光棧道有多寬》2015), won the 13th Hong Kong Biennial Award for Chinese Literature. His latest collection of poetry is called Modest Heat in Fruits（《果實微温》）(2019). Its Chinese title is actually a transliteration of “Grocery Run” . His collection of prose titled Alpine Forgetting of Shadow（《影之忘返》）was published in 2019.
The translators:
Polly Ho Sai Fung graduated from the University of Hong Kong. She has devoted her time to organizing poetry readings at Kubrick Poetry since 2007. She started KPS (Kubrick Poetry Society), an online writing school to nurture and facilitate poetry writing and fiction writing during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
Florence Ng lives in Hong Kong and is the author of the poetry collection Wild Boar in Victoria Harbour (Kubrick, 2019). Pause for Paws is dedicated to her first cat, Handsome who passed away in July, 2020.
