Jorge Luis Borges Imagines China
A sandglass. A second. Touch of the finest skin.

Jade of joy. An itch. Secrets in books you have read

sans a page number sans a punctuation mark.

Chapter of the sun. Chapter of the moon. Chapter of the sea.

A pantomime script. A palindrome poem by an anonymous

author more beautiful than a chandelier, a rotating brocade.

A lady-in-waiting advising the emperor on Night of Devotion.

A chapter from Erya or a hexagram couplet from I Ching.

Wounded feet and iron shoes of Yu the Great. Waters rushing.

Shu Hai walks barefoot to measure the world, as prototype of K.

(Kafka knows he will never reach the two poles.)

Two gates to Hangu Pass, on the table sits

the first version of Tao Te Ching, ink still wet.

Affluent vacuity. Return of disappearance.

A tear from an ancient mermaid drips into a pearl.

Li Shangyin writes an untitled poem to some Daoist lady.

An Argentinian ant climbs up Mount Tai.

Sailors row in unison on Jianzhen’s boat.

Matteo Ricci draws in Zhaoqing’s Map of World’s Kingdoms.

The Great Wall of China seen from a spacecraft.

An ancient coin symbolises round sky square earth.

The sound of snow falling on the Grand Bell of Yongle.

The opulence and decadence of oriental Venice in South-of-Yangtze.

Archaeologists’ tweezers. Puppets’ pulling strings.

Unheard-of mysterious creatures in Classics of Mountains and Seas.

Silence of Terracotta Army. Furnace and sword of the Chinese alchemists.

Before a stele in Japan I read through the palms

of my hands the immortal inscriptions of the Middle Kingdom.

A bronze doorknob in Buenos Aires calls out to

another bronze doorknob in a Shikumen from Shanghai.



 

博尔赫斯对中国的想象
沙漏。秒。最细腻的皮肤的触觉。

玉如意。痒。你读过的书中

既无页码又无标点的秘籍。

太阳的章节。月亮的章节。海的章节。

哑剧的脚本。一首比枝形吊灯更美的

佚名作者的回文诗那循环的织锦。

宫女在奉献之夜对皇帝的规劝。

《尔雅》的一个章节或《易经》的一个对卦。

大禹的病足和铁鞋。滔滔江河。

徒步丈量世界的、作为K的原型的竖亥。

（卡夫卡知道，他永远到不了极地）。

函古关的两扇门，桌上摆着那

字迹未干的《道德经》的第一个版本。

空虚的富足。逝去的回归。

南海鲛人的一滴变成珍珠的眼泪。

李商隐写给某个女道士的无题诗。

爬上泰山的一只阿根廷蚂蚁。

鉴真号水手划船时整齐的动作。

一张利马窦在肇庆绘制的坤舆图。

宇宙飞船上看到的万里长城。

象征天圆地方的一枚古钱币。

雪落在永乐大钟上发出的声音。

江南那东方威尼斯的富庶与颓废。

考古学家的镊子。木偶的提线。

《山海经》里闻所未闻的奇异动物。

兵马俑的沉默。丹客的炉与剑。

我在日本的一块石碑前

用手掌阅读过的天朝的不朽铭文。

与布宜诺斯艾利斯的一个铜门环对应的

上海石库门上的另一个铜门环。