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Poems on the MRT

对角戏 / Duologue by He Er

 

对角戏
贺尔

把对角戏拍成

兽来借宿一日
踏雪泥
鸿爪过门
不入

雪山亭外寒风
攀过一千五百年
只待一夜放晴

兽触柱，角折
成桥梁
只听那夜
蝉过

（《石桥禅》载阿难对佛说：我喜欢上了一女子。
佛问阿难：你有多喜欢这女子?

阿难说：我愿化身石桥，受那五百年风吹，五百年日晒，
五百年雨淋，只求她从桥上经过。）


Duologue
Written by He Er
Translated by Joshua Ip

beast came to stay the night,
paced over the snow tracks
of long-gone geese, passed the door,
didn’t enter

the chill beyond the snow-topped mountain shelter
clambered over a millennia and a half
just for a single glimpse of evening sun

beast gores the pillar, his horn bending
into a bridge
waiting for the night
when a cicada will
pass

(In the stone bridge koan, Ānanda told the Buddha: I have fallen in love with a girl.

The Buddha asked Ānanda: How much do you love this girl?

Ānanda replied: I would willingly reincarnate as a stone bridge, suffer five centuries of howling wind, five centuries of scorching sun, and five centuries of drenching rain, just for the moment when she crosses over.)

Published in Left Side 左边 (2021)

Seow Joo Chuan (who writes under the pen name "He Er"), born in 1976, is a Chinese language educator with over 20 years of teaching experience. He graduated from the National University of Singapore’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences with an Honours (Second Upper) degree in Chinese Studies. Joo Chuan has a strong passion for reading, philosophy and poetry, which has deeply influenced his teaching style. He enjoys weaving literary beauty and philosophical depth into his lessons, helping students appreciate the soul of Chinese language and Literature.

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Poems on the MRT is an initiative by the National Arts Council, in partnership with SMRT and Stellar Ace. Produced by Sing Lit Station, a local literary non-profit organisation, this collaboration displays excerpts of Singapore poetry throughout SMRT’s train network, integrating local literature into the daily experience of commuters. Look out for poems in English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil in trains on the East-West, North-South and Circle Lines, as well as videos created by local artists and featuring local poets in stations and on trains. The Chinese, Malay, and Tamil poems are available in both the original languages and English. To enjoy the full poems, commuters may read them on go.gov.sg/potm.

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