i am morning, you are night
the twilight and early dawn,
drawn between us, the softer edges
of never starting, nor ending;
the extended conversation
shuts before it opens.
Land is impossible
there is nowhere to rest our feet,
as we disappear,
the other approaches
as we are not, the other is.
The edge of the world
is the glass mirror view of a window,
seen from either side.
And the leaning point is where
the glass must shatter us,
and all we are
31st January 2025
By Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
我是黎明，你是夜晚 海伦·普莱茨 ——赠马永波 i am morning, you are night
—for Ma Yongbo
我是黎明，你是夜晚
薄暮和拂晓，
在我们中间画出，更为柔和的边界
永无开始，也无尽头；
绵长的对话
未及开启，已然闭合。
着陆是不可能的
我们没有地方停歇，
当我们消失，
对方就会靠近
当我们缺席，对方就会存在。
世界的边缘
是窗玻璃的镜像，
无论从哪一侧观看。
而倾靠的临界点
玻璃必定将我们打碎，
连同所有的一切
2025 年 1 月 31 日
I am morning, you are night by Ma Yongbo—to Helen Pletts 我是黎明，你是夜晚 马永波——赠海伦·普莱茨
I am morning, you are night,
a time difference of eight hours,
is an invisible river between us;
We stand on either shore, keeping watch,
like two knights taking turns on guard,
protecting the peace of the castle, the homeland of poetry.
You scatter seeds that no-one has ever seen.
In the folds of the dark night;
I encounter the stormy waters of the past
in the moment before waking from dreams;
our worlds alternate between light and shadow,
Yet we flow on the same river.
Each wave of the tide is a greeting,
each dawn and dusk shares a light,
you are night, I am morning,
East and West, on each other’s faces,
recognising ancient signals and a shared horizon.
February 15, 2025
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波 and Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
我是黎明，你是夜晚 马永波——赠海伦·普莱茨I am morning, you are night by Ma Yongbo—to Helen Pletts
我是黎明，你是夜晚，
八小时的时差
是一条无形的河；
我们在两岸，彼此守望，
像两个轮流站岗的骑士，
守护着城堡的和平，诗的故乡。
你在黑夜的皱褶里，
撒下从未有人见过的种子；
我在醒前刹那的梦中，
遭遇曾经沧海的往昔；
我们各自的世界，明暗交替，
却在同一条河上流淌。
每一阵潮涌，都是彼此的问候，
每一个晨昏，都有交汇的光芒，
你是夜晚，我是黎明，
东方和西方，在彼此的脸上
辨认出古老的信号，和共同的远方。
2025年2月15日
Image: Le Seize Septembre by Magritte
Le Seize Septembre (The Sixteenth of September) painted in 1956. Magritte once again depicts a binary relationship in his work. This painting represents an isolated tree in the middle of a plain, closed off at the bottom by high trees. In front of this principal tall tree, in the middle of the scene, hangs a crescent moon. The clear colour of the sky indicates that day is breaking. Magritte paints a switch between day and night. A luminous and temporal paradox that transforms visible reality by letting the invisible be seen.
Many Magritte paintings are preoccupied with the subject of Day and Night.
Magritte (1898-1967) was a Belgian surrealist artist playing with preconceived perceptions of reality. He depicted different pictorial motifs, organizing a gap between an object and its representation. His works often present two graphic interpretations, by painting the visible and the invisible, a duality that makes all the richness of his work. According to the artist, the visible reality must be approached in an objectal way, in that sense his work tried to be the representation of mental images.
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