Haystacks, Snow Effect, Morning, Claude Monet, 1891. Oil on canvas. J. Paul Getty Museum.
Haystacks is the common English title for a series of impressionist paintings by Claude Monet
LINK1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haystacks_(Monet_series)
Bundles of Crops in the Field
田野里的庄稼捆
Rows of cylindrical crop bundles lie neatly
in the stubble field, covered with snow.
From afar, it’s hard to tell if they’re corn, rice sheaves, or soybeans;
so densely packed, the heat of labour still compressed inside.
They seem to have remained there for several winters, forming a landscape
mice can scurry in and out, birds can take temporary shelter from the wind
knowing they won’t suddenly roll or burst into flames.
They don’t have any expectations of this,
unlike my initial assumptions when I first saw them.
The bustle of autumn, the creak of hay, the ruts,
the leaping grasshoppers, the sunlight, the slow night of the juicer
all are still stored within them, unseen changes
running ceaselessly east of sunrise and west of sunset.
For the things that depend on them
they will exist forever, like the snow of several winters,
the grey light that blankets the fields. Before they
turn into other stars, many things will vanish,
including me on the journey, unable to foresee
where they will be in spring. They are always far away,
their snow-cloaked stillness, the inaudible burning of their fuses.
March 15, 2020
Response Poetry By Ma Yongbo 马永波
Response Poetry Translated By Ma Yongbo 马永波
田野里的庄稼捆
Bundles of Crops in the Field
一排排圆筒状的庄稼捆整齐地
躺在留茬地里，落满了雪
远远地分不清是玉米、稻捆还是黄豆
很密实，劳动的热量还压缩在里边
它们似乎几个冬天都留在那里，构成风景
老鼠可以钻进钻出，鸟也可以暂时避风
知道它们不会突然滚动和燃烧起来
它们对此没有太多的期待
不像第一次看见这些的我那样猜想
秋天的繁忙，干草的吱嘎声，车辙
乱蹦的蚂蚱，阳光，榨汁机缓慢的夜
都还储存在它们内部，看不见的变化
在日出之东和日落之西不停地运行
对于那些依赖于它们的东西
它们会永远存在，像几个冬天的雪
笼罩四野的灰蒙蒙的光，在它们
变成别的星星之前，许多事物都会消失
包括旅途中的我，无法预知
它们春天时会在哪里，它们始终远远的
它们落雪的静，听不见的引信的燃烧
2020.3.15
Haystacks, White Frost Effect, Claude Monet, 1889. Oil on canvas. Hill-Stead Museum, Farmington, CT.
winter haystacks—for Yongbo
冬天的干草垛——给永波
white holds the field of strangeness
still white sitting on their dull pinnacles,
as wetness is drawn from the earth through the darkening yellow
the slow field stiffens under cold white layers
the haystacks in their stiff white dresses
are reticent to cross the floor
but as soon as the winter sun bows low towards them
they turn into the silent silhouettes of large black empty skirts
the winter night emptying their white
20th August 2025, written at Midnight,
in response to Ma Yongbo’s song ‘Bundles of crops in the field’
Response Poetry By Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
冬天的干草垛——给永波
winter haystacks—for Yongbo
白色占据着陌生的田野
依旧洁白，静坐于它们沉闷的尖顶，
当潮湿从泥土中抽离，透过渐深的枯黄
迟缓的田野在一层层冰冷的白色下变得僵硬
干草垛们身着僵硬的素白裙装
默然伫立，不愿穿过这片大地
可一旦冬日的太阳向它们低低垂首
便化作巨大的黑色空裙，那无声的剪影
冬夜，正将它们的白色渐渐倾空
2025年8月20日，写于午夜，回应永波的诗《田野里的庄稼捆》
Haystacks, Snow Effect, Claude Monet, 1890-91, National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Ma Yongbo, 24th May 2025, Nanjing, China, Planet Earth, The Universe
Helen Pletts, 23rd May, Cambridge, UK, Planet Earth, The Universe
Haystack (Thaw, Sunset), Claude Monet, 1890–91. Oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago
Specific photographic images/graphic art under individual copyright
© to either Ma Yongbo 马永波 or Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
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