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Poems on the MRT

走进图书馆的树：前身是树，今生是书本 / The Tree at the Library Entrance by Wong Yoon Wah

 

走进图书馆的树：前身是树，今生是书本
王润华

走进图书馆的书库
一棵孤独的树
并不寂寞
每一本书刊
都有树木的记忆
前生的身体是树
今生的书本也是树
它便开始开花
与读书人对话……

注：元智大学改建图书馆，屋顶透光，将太阳引进下层书库，并种了一棵大树。

The Tree at the Library Entrance
Written by Wong Yoon Wah
Transcreated by Ng Yi-Sheng

entering the library stacks
a solitary tree
that feels no loneliness
for every volume
holds a tree's memories
its body in a past life was a tree
the book in its present life is also a tree
it begins to blossom
and converses with its reader

When Yuanzhi University (Taoyuan City, Taiwan) rebuilt its library, its roof contained a skylight, allowing the sunlight to reach the stacks. They also planted a large tree there.

Published in Homecomings 重返诗抄 (2023)

Professor Wong Yoon Wah holds a PhD from University of Wisconsin, USA. He is a scholar and writer, winner of the Singapore Cultural Medallion (1986), the ASEAN Cultural Award (1993) and NTU’s Nanyang Literature Award (2014). He has published Beyond Symbol, The New Village, and Durians Are Not the Only Fruit and other creative and academic works. He has served as President of the Singapore Association of Writers, as well as Professor and Head of the Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore. He is currently a Senior Professor of Southern University College in Malaysia.

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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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