Rainbow

Baima Nazhen (白玛娜珍)

(Translated from Chinese by Patricia Schiaffini-Vedani)

 

Grieving for Pema Tseden la

 

The thunderstorm shed a night of tears

How can one begin to tell,

Pema la,

that life of yours, brief as a lightning flash

 

I replay in my mind that time

in a corner of Lhasa,

at the Left Bank Café,

young artists–you and I

I can’t recall your words

but remember your kind eyes,

and your calming smile

 

Later, you travelled through the veins of Tibet

and I could only see you in films

Like the day at the empty, icy Shenli theater

just Tharlo and me

After the movie, a blazing sun like white ants    

On the pilgrimage road to Lukhang

country folk selling fake Tibetan apples and eggs

I had to bow my head,

And I wrote “I am Tharlo” for your film

 

Many years passed,

and I always watched your movies,

those in black and white, those in Tibetan blue

Sacred Arrow, above all

In that world you unfolded your dreams,

created your language, your land

 

At last, you came to Lhasa that snowless winter

loaded with books, wearing your smile

At the book launch, your glinting eyes

bestowed stars on all of us

 

You sought depth in life and film,

flying farther and farther away,

until the speed of your voyage

surpassed the rate of your heart

‘The End’ suddenly gave in to the dark night

But it is just a night of rest, isn’t it?

 

Where have you gone?

The tie has slipped away

 

Now, in a flashback of shadows and lights

I see your life, short as a hand’s palm,

like a moment in a myriad long nights

A rainbow in the sky that

cannot be fathomed with time

Your ending is not merely a sigh

 

I wipe out my tears, by and by

While you walk away,

shutting death’s door,

towards the new heaven and earth,

where grass and trees never wither,

where you’ll abide for all time.

 

 

A scene from Sacred Arrow, illustration by Kuranishi ©Sernya magazine

 

彩虹

一夜雷雨的慟泣

又怎能诉尽
万玛啦
您那短如电闪的人生

现在 只能回放与你的曾经
拉萨拐角处的左岸咖啡
我们还是文艺青年
您说过什么我都忘记了
只记得您温柔的眼眸
您那可平息一切的笑容

以后您沿着藏地的血脉追索
我只能在电影里看您
那天 拉萨冰冷的神力影院空着
只有《塔洛》和我
观影出来 烈日如白蚁
宗角禄康的转经路上
农民正在卖假冒藏地的苹果和鸡蛋
我不得不低下头
为您的电影写下《我就是塔洛》

又过了很多年
我一直看您的电影
黑白的 藏蓝的
最爱的是您的《五彩神箭》
那个世界您沉展梦境
创造了您的王国和您的语言

终于 在拉萨没有雪的冬天您来了
满满的书卷和着您独一的笑容
在那场新书推介会上
您的眼眸闪耀着星星的光
照耀着您面前的人们

但您在生活之外
只在电影里纵深
您越走越远的速度终已快过心脏的率动
因此就把猝然的片尾 交给了暗夜吗
那只是一晚的安息吧

但您 去了哪里
以至于  断了 音讯

此刻 电影倒叙着您的光影
我就见您生的年数比手掌还窄
又如万千长夜里的一更
但天上的那轮彩虹
又怎么可用时间计算
您的末了所以并非一声叹息

我就抹去渐渐的泪水
看您关上死的门
因您背转去到的新天新地
那里草木不再凋落
生 将得永恒

(The original poem appeared in on May 10, 2023 in the website https://www.tibetcul.com/wx/zhuanti/zt/42551.html)

 

Baima Nazhen with Pema Tseden, Image Courtsey: Baima Nazhen

 

Baima Nazhen (Tib. Pema Nordrön པད་མ་ནོར་སྒྲོན།, also known by her penname Pema Lhandze, Tib. པདྨ་ལྷ་མཛེས།) is a prolific Sinophone Tibetan writer born in Lhasa. She was a visiting scholar at Peking University in 2013. Pema has penned numerous books and anthologies of essays and poetry, including the novels The Resurrected Tara (China Writers Publishing House, 2006) and The Red Dust of Lhasa (Chinese ed. by Tibet People’s Publishing House in 2002, English ed. in 2016).

Patricia Schiaffini-Vedani (Ph.D. 2002) is Director of Experiential Learning and Humanities Based Undergraduate Research at Old Dominion University (Norfolk, Virginia, USA). She has authored many academic papers and co-edited the reference book, Modern Tibetan Literature and Social Change and co-translated Pema Tseden’s anthology Enticement: Stories of Tibet. Her research deals with Sinophone Tibetan literature. She is the founder of the Tibetan Arts and Literature Initiative (www.talitibet.org).