Oil Painting: Pierre Bonnard, Ruelle à Vernonnet [Lane at Vernonnet] About 1912 – 1914
The evening throws us light in a salmon pink
and in the yellow primroses
there is a strange and unknown glow,
that only this falling house knows.
Green is starting to grow on the brown spine
of the spring fishes; swimming
with their quick fins into nothingness.
Even the latch is sleeping,
two keys combining like us;
knowing the sailing waters
and the long avenues of chaos.
And then this. Now the still hour has come for us;
draining the sky of sudden pink
into these once blank and yellow faces
29th March 2025
After seeing my mother’s lonely, spring garden blooming with pale primroses in the pink of evening, recreated in the strange evening light reflected from a nearby salmon pink painted wall, 23 Station Road, Halesworth
By Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
夜色将我们笼罩在鲑鱼的粉色之中 The evening throws us light in a salmon pink 马永波 译
黄色的樱草花丛散发着
一种奇异而未知的光芒，
只有这座正在倒塌的房子知道。
绿色开始在春季鱼类
棕色的脊柱上生长
它们用迅速的鳍游向虚无。
甚至门闩也在沉睡，
两把钥匙像我们一样结合在一起；
深知我们正在航过的水域
和混乱的漫漫长途。
然后便是这般。现在，静息的时刻降临；
将意外的粉色天空排干
变成这些曾经空白的黄色面孔。
2025 年 3 月 29 日
看到我母亲孤独的春天花园在傍晚的粉红色中盛开着淡淡的樱草花，随后，愉悦于附近沙龙粉墙反射的奇怪暮光。
海伦·普莱茨
The Last Light of Mother：To Helen 最后的母亲之光——赠 海伦
The old house is empty, the steps crumbling,
the fence tilting, white paint peeling.
The windows still hold their geometric shape,
as if trying to impose rational form
on a blurred vision.
Mother’s black horn comb still tangles
a dry, coiled strand of grey hair.
Like wire piercing your palm,
it keeps growing. The three-volume Proust
you read and made madeleines with as a girl
still stands on the shelf, solitary,
like an abandoned family huddled close.
You linger in the kitchen—the laughter,
the shifting scents and hues of seasons,
the lively splash of your young hands in the sink,
the intimate murmurs between mother and daughter.
Now, only a beam of twilight
stays fixed at your feet. You turn
to face the mirror, emptier than the room,
as if by gazing long enough,
that mother-light might endure forever.
March 31, 2025, on the subway, by Yongbo
Response Poetry by Ma Yongbo 马永波
Response Poetry Translated by Ma Yongbo 马永波
最后的母亲之光——赠 海伦 The Last Light of Mother：To Helen 马永波
老房子空了，台阶正在崩塌
栅栏歪斜，白色的油漆剥落
窗户还保持着几何形状
像是要给模糊的视野
重新赋予理性的形式
母亲的黑牛角梳子还缠绕着
一缕干燥弯曲的灰色长发
它们像铁丝穿透你的手掌
继续生长。你还是少女时读过
并做过玛德琳点心的三卷本普鲁斯特
还立在书架上，孤零零的
像一个被遗弃的家庭，紧紧靠在一起
你久久地站在厨房里——那欢笑
那四季不同的香味和色彩
你年轻的手在水槽里激起的
欢快水声，母女俩亲密的闲聊
如今，只有一道明亮的夕光
长久地停在你的脚前，你转身
对着比房间还要空荡的镜子
仿佛你只要长久地凝视它
那道母亲之光就会永远存在
2025年3月31日于地铁上
Pierre Bonnard (3 October 1867 – 23 January 1947)
was a French painter, illustrator and printmaker, known especially for the stylised decorative qualities of his paintings and his bold use of colour. A founding member of the Post-Impressionist group of avant-garde painters Les Nabis, his early work was strongly influenced by the work of Paul Gauguin, as well as the prints of Hokusai and other Japanese artists. Bonnard was a leading figure in the transition from Impressionism to Modernism. He painted landscapes, urban scenes, portraits and intimate domestic scenes, where the backgrounds, colours and painting style usually took precedence over the subject.
Image: Ma Yongbo 马永波 March 2025, Harbin main street
https://mayongbopoetry.wordpress.com/ Helen Pletts @helen.pletts and Ma Yongbo @mayongbopoetry enjoy translating each other’s poetry. They are currently working on their first forthcoming bilingual book with @petetaylorpoetry, Open Shutter Press
Image: Helen Pletts 海伦·普莱茨 马永波 at her writing desk, Cambridge 2024
“I had been back to look at my parent’s old house. My mother Ann Bannister would have loved Yongbo’s response to my poem. His great poetic sensibility can not be underestimated, and it establishes him both as a great poet and as a great friend” Helen Pletts, April 2025