LARUT POEM BOOK DESIGN V5 - 140mm x 210mm-1

拉律 LARUT 中英双语诗集

作者 王涛 WANG TAO
英译
出版 宋铭 SONG MENG

电邮 王涛 WANG TAO
承印 Lumut, Perak

国际书号 [email protected]
出版日期
Waybuilder Enterprise
46, Jalan 11 / 118B, Desa Tun Razak,
56000 Kuala Lumpur.
012 - 523 9897

ISBN 978-629-97553-0-2

2022年11月 第一版第一刷

目 录 Content辑

一 序 - 从“沧海”到“桑田” / 1Chapter 1

• Preface - Evanescence of Worldly Affairs / 12The Vagrant's Poems

流 01 拉律 / 27
浪 LARUT / 31

诗 02 番薯与沙葛 / 34
Sweet Potatoes and Yam Beans / 36
族 03 蒂蒂旺莎山脉 / 38

Mount Titiwangsa / 42

04 大直哢 / 45

Pulau Pasir Hitam / 49

05 问候大地与海洋 / 53

Greeting the earth and ocean / 56

06 如若不是因为烟霾 / 58

If not because of the haze / 60

07 旋转的吉打景色 / 62

The swirling scenery of Kedah / 64

08 回国 / 66

Returning home / 68

•

—i—

辑 Chapter 1

一 09 致蜻蜓 / 70

• To the dragonfly / 72

流 10 鸟影 / 74
The Vagrant's Poems Bird shadow / 76
浪 11 屋顶上, 冷硬的石头 / 78

诗 On the roof top, the cold hard stones / 79

族 12 而血变成一朵花 / 80

But the blood has turned into a flower / 82

13 小石子 / 83

A Small Stone / 85

14 脊椎痛 / 87

Spinal pains / 89

15 人肺之敌 / 91

The enemy of the lung / 93

16 麻雀 / 95

The Sparrows / 96

17 蓝饮 / 97

Drinking the Blue / 99

18 红砖 / 100

• Red Bricks / 101

— ii —

辑

二 19 在稻田 / 102Chapter 2

• In the paddy field / 103

智 20 吉他 / 104
The Lights of Wisdom The Guitar / 105
慧 21 黑石头 / 106

光 Black Rock / 107

芒 22 爱 / 108

Love / 109

23 蛇说 / 110

The Snake says / 111

24 时光 / 112

Time / 113

25 痕迹 / 114

Vestige / 115

26 蚊子之死 / 116

The death of a mosquito / 117

27 端午 / 118

Duan Wu / 119

28 微诗两首： / 120

Two pieces of miniature poetry / 121

天使的睫毛 / 120

The eyelashes of an angel / 121

刚与柔 / 120

Hard and soft / 121

•

— iii —

辑

二 29 夜窗外 / 122Chapter 2

• The night outside the window / 123

智 30 夜雨 / 124
The Lights of Wisdom Night Rain / 125
慧 31 归根 / 126

光 Get back to the root / 127

芒 32 蛾与蝶 / 128

The moth and butterfly / 129

33 树雕 / 130

Wood Sculpture / 131

34 潮裤 / 132

Fashion Trousers / 133

35 母亲的温柔 / 134

Mother’s tenderness / 135

36 那一株红叶 / 136

That red-leaf tree / 137

37 竹子 / 138

The bamboo / 139

38 四月之诗 / 140

A poetry of April / 141

39 九月--怀念一只狗 / 142

September--In memory for a dog / 143

40 十月诗草两则 / 144

Two poems for October / 145

•

— iv —

辑

二 41 木薯颂 / 146Chapter 2

• Ode to the Cassava Plants / 147

智 42 仙人掌 / 148
The Lights of Wisdom The Cactus / 149
慧 43 木棉树 / 150

光 The cotton tree / 151

芒 44 七里香 / 152

Orange Jasmine / 153

45 荷问莲思 / 154

The lotus that asks and thinks / 155

46 荷塘月色 / 156

Moonlight over the lotus pond / 157

47 月光 / 158

Moonlight / 159

48 金蜓 / 160

Golden Dragonfly / 161

49 水央 / 162

The River Centre / 163

50 梦见 / 164

I dreamed / 165

51 种树 / 166

Planting Trees / 167

52 桑之吟 / 168

Ode to the mulberry Plants / 169

•

—v—

辑

二 53 桑椹 / 170Chapter 2

• The mulberries / 171

智 54 桑歌 / 172
The Lights of Wisdom The mulberry song / 173
慧 55 一棵微笑的树 / 174

光 A smiling tree / 175

芒 56 蘑菇 / 176

The Mushroom / 177

57 香蕉成熟时 / 178

The time the bananas are ripe / 179

58 锄头之歌--题陈琳油画 / 180

The Song of a Hoe

--An autograph for Chen Lin’s painting / 181
59 天定河 / 182

The Dinding River / 183

60 今夜, 把你想得深 / 184

Tonight I am deeply yearning of you / 185

61 我睡在海边吊网中 / 186

Sleeping in the hammock at the seaside / 187

62 雨中说船 / 188

Talking about the boat in the rain / 189

63 当我们相聚 / 190

When we go together / 191

•

— vi —

辑

三 64 石头像头颅那么硬(散文诗) / 192Chapter 3

• A rock hard as a skull / 194

归 65 致国旗 / 196
To the National Flag / 197
隐 Prior to Retirement 66 风铃木 / 198

之 The trumpet tree / 199

前 67 独立 / 200

Independence / 201

68 尊严 / 202

Dignity / 203

69 尊严之歌 / 204

The song of dignity / 205

70 帽子与刀锋 / 206

The hat and knife blade / 207

71 在这土地上 / 208

On this piece of land / 209

72 藤条 / 210

The Cane / 211

73 一张钞票 / 212

A piece of currency note / 213

74 送你玫瑰 / 214

A rose for you / 215

75 红毛丹 / 216

The Rambutan / 217

•

— vii —

Chapter 3辑
三 76 刺 / 218
Prior to Retirement
• Prickle / 219

归 77 山泉 / 220
隐 The mountain spring / 221
之 后记 / 222
前 Epilogue / 224

•

— viii —

序

从“沧海”到“桑田”

——序王涛双语诗集《拉律》/ 许文荣博士

十多年前，由于要寻找杜运燮的相关资料，在实兆远的曼绒文
友会会所与直爽帅气的诗人王涛初次见面，宾主言谈相当投切，再加上
彼此都是主内弟兄，年岁也相近，因此很自然的结为文友。我们之间的
交往虽不频密，但是间中皆有两地互访，增进了彼此的友谊。

王涛与绝大多数的马华作家一样，皆非专业作家。他们的写作
纯粹是个人兴趣，以及对写作的坚定信念。他们本身都有自己的职业，
在工作之余挤出一丁点时间，或者在闲暇别人喝茶娱乐时，他们却沉静
的伏案文耕，完全不求报酬，只冀能表达自己内心的文思墨情，与几位
文友同好分享新出炉的作品，已是他们最大的乐趣了。毕竟文学在今天
以光感影音为主导的世界，可说是小众中的小众，尤其是诗歌。

王涛生活经历高低起伏，似有饱经风霜世故的忧郁与刚毅，同
时也是一位充满故事的诗人。他十几岁就提笔写作，从散文、小说写到
诗歌。他早熟的性格是成长的岁月磨练出来的痕迹。他出生在邦咯海岛，
从小与大海相伴，一家人也靠海洋为生。他从小就协助父亲修补渔网，
高中毕业后便辍学，后来三兄弟联手经营渔业公司，在海上的日子比在
陆地上多。由于渔业生意走下坡，三兄弟便决定分家，他个人便因此离
开海洋奔向大地。后来他在离海岛不远的地方买了一幢英式洋房加一块
土地，从此经营民宿，并在那一块方圆不小的土地上种植桑树，研究桑
树，充分发挥桑树的经济价值。

—1—

就如他的恩师吴岸所说，他从“沧海转到桑田”，人生起了极
大的变化。离开大海后他曾经一度很彷徨，毕竟他是大海的孩子，就如
鱼儿离开了水去陆地生活一样，开始面对适应问题，前路又大雾茫茫，
再加上自己的胞弟遭遇海难，这重重的打击让他曾经一度忧郁消沉。
或许，人的绝路就是神的开始，那时基督的光照入他黑暗之心，信望爱
带领他走出阴霾，引导他走向人生的新诗章。

从海洋到陆地，他的人生完全是一个新的开始、新的体验新的
挑战、新的适应。海岛赐予他坚韧不拔的意志，大海的汹涌澎湃他都能
够乘风破浪，这一路的满途荆棘，寂寞孤单，他最终一样胜过了，走过
来了。这些人生历程都成为他写诗的宝贵灵感、题材、动力与超越。是
的，从大海到大地，他的诗风也从锋锐激昂，转为沉静凝练，充满哲思；
当然，悲天悯人之情，言之有物的欲望，则始终不变。

我们可以从他这部诗集《拉律》中窥探出他最新的诗风。三十
多年来的笔耕，他至少出版了六部诗集：《渔人的晚餐》（1990）、
《只有浪知道我们相爱最深》（2000）、《醋熘白菜》（2003）、《再
战大海》 （2009）、《王涛诗选》（2011）、《你醒在海醒之前——海
岛海洋诗集》（2011）。这些诗作大都与海岛和海洋相关联，但这部新
诗集却以大地命名——“拉律”，展现了他意欲转变诗风的自觉。他不
竭的创作把他建造成为一位诗坛老手，让他可以精妙的捕抓意象，精确
的运用文字，精心的把诗与思融为一体，编制了一篇篇诗意盎然的诗章。

一、语带双关、虚实相生
题名诗〈拉律〉是一个古地名，后来普遍以太平为名后便较少

沿用。无论如何，此地是著名的历史关键词、著名的拉律战争曾在这里
厮杀，在吉隆坡尚未崛起之前，拉律/太平也曾经是马来亚属邦的首府。

—2—

拉律带有一定的古风古韵，引人发思古情怀。

无论如何，在这首诗里，拉律摇身从地名变为一只神象的名字，
原来此巨象才是这名字最先的所属者。它是霹雳州酋长隆查阿法豢养的
巨兽，一天因主人的疏忽而逃回到森林，后来被寻见时，被发现其脚上和
身体，皆沾粘着大量的锡米。巨象的失踪却意外的发现了锡米，从此拉律
不再太平，此地成为各方争夺逐鹿之地。

拉律在此诗中语带双关，表层是巨象，但深层确是一片必争之地，
显露了人类的野心与贪婪。由于蕴含丰富的锡米，各方人马都争着来开
芭架械开采锡米，迎来近打谷百年的繁华。这种荣景已超越巨象所能控
治的范围，因而也无法阻止自己原来的居住地——热带雨林遭致破坏：
“而你后代越来越失去森林/没有自然生活与生存地方/就连那六千五百多
年前/埋在地底冲击层的古树干/硕大无比如你躯干，被挖掘/而今，与你
一样被展示/是动弹不得的物体”。此诗是诗人参观金宝的锡矿博物馆时，
见了巨象拉律的雕像后有感而发所创作的，故有大象与大树根同时成为
展览品的描写。拉律是否后悔当初的“逃离”而让人类发现了宝藏，然而
却侵害了自己族类的生存空间，对它来说，“自由/ 比黄金锡米/ 昂贵”，
这或许是最贴切的回应吧！

从实的“历史”，诗人转入当下，赋予拉律新的大使命：“这半
岛/ 需要你去寻觅特别宝物秘方/ 比如铲除种族极端思维/ 比如消灭狭隘宗
教意识/ 比如挖掘贪婪与无知，比如/ 剔除愚昧与狂傲，这一切/ 竟然是，
啊! ——瞎子摸象”在面对当前政治乱局的无奈中，诗人唯有把希望寄托
在巨象身上，想赋予它神圣使命，再次逃离以为大马人民寻找秘方，像它
当年无意中的伟大发现，以清除各种政治僵局，包括种族政治、宗教极
端、贪污舞弊、愚昧狂傲等等等。这只巨象毕竟已成为博物馆的雕像，
“你一动也不动”，希望注定落空。

—3—

无论如何，诗人似心有不甘，人已经靠不住，只能奢望这巨象的
神奇力量了。诗人打破主客时空的隔阂，驰骋自由的想象：“拉律！啊，
强壮的拉律！ /你速速去/ 你快快回来/ 在星光归隐之前/ 我切切地等候你/
在冉冉升起的朝阳中/ 我声嘶力竭的呼唤你/ 我会望着黑暗的森林/ 蒂蒂旺
莎山脉好像走动的巨象/ 那是你吗？拉律！拉律！你在哪里？你什么时候
归来？”

这首诗有诗人的思古情情怀，也有一时的突发奇想；有对历史的
缅怀，也有对当下政治困境的感叹，形成历史与现实的交错。对现实政治
的不满、愤懑、无奈，并期盼奇迹的出现来拨乱反正，也不时出现在他的
其他诗中。

〈蒂蒂旺莎山脉〉是一首为原住民的所讴的森林之歌。蒂蒂旺莎
山脉一则我地理名词，一则被引申为山地民族的家园与河山。诗歌开首以
极为简练之笔展示了他们的家园热带雨林如何被破坏、摧残：“大树桐被
山霸王载走/ 吼吼的咆哮，回荡/ 山/ 林”。对山林的儿女们，这是如何的
异常心痛，家园不断的被毁坏！想要立即阻止：“我高举一把锋利的箭/
扎根如树，一棵神树/ 它们永远推不倒　锯不断” ，诗人潜入原住民心理，
想要进行抵抗却无力，只能憧憬着神迹的发生，在他们射出的“锋利的剑”
后，每一颗树都有神灵俯身，不动如山，没有一颗树能被贪婪的资本家推
倒与霸占。

诗人感性的继续为原住民发声：“一代一代的山民默默生活/ 山林
是家园/ 河流是故乡/ 一片叶子凋零，就是/ 一个亲人的伤逝/ 一只鸟兽的
死亡，便是/ 一个兄弟的告别。”表达了他们与世无争的在山林中生活，
他们与森林水乳交融、亲爱如家人弟兄，但是这种平静的生活，为何偏偏
却遭到破坏，让他们情何以堪! 孰可忍孰不可忍？在沉痛之余，诗人提醒

—4—

说原住民不是弱者，他们会起来反抗，他们用豪迈的声音呐喊：“站立如
山的脊梁，神勇/ 我族人英雄的傲骨铿锵/ ……告诉你，我已归来/ 我要守
望在祖传地”。

二、以诗记事、情理交融
这部诗集的第四首诗〈大直 〉，是记述一座小岛的盛衰起落的

故事，与一般纯粹叙事不同，诗人融入了个人的情感，或许诗人也同样来
自海岛，对海岛以及海岛上的人事转迁更有感触。

大直 （Pulau Pasir Hitam/ 黑沙岛）是霹雳西北海岸的一个弹丸
小岛，一座典型的华人渔村。她在最繁盛的时期居民超过3000人，随着越
来越多人移居半岛大陆，目前尚居留在这海岛上却已不到百人。据传她曾
经是海王的属地，曾经是鸿门会的据点，曾经参加抗日排英，诗中皆有一
一的叙述，带领读者穿越历史走廊，浏览这海岛曾经的景象与风光。历史
终归是历史，缅怀之后仍得回归现实：“这岛的民，去向何方？ /有屋没有
人，有桥/ 无人过，有学校/ 没学生，有雨水/ 没人要喝，有风景/ 无人欣
赏/ 有云飘过/ 没人理睬 /唯有寺庙偶有香火/ 望天看海，只剩下几个人/ 海
还是海，天仍然是天/ 茫茫时茫茫/ 辽阔时辽阔 天空海鹰飞过，不急，不
徐/ 繁衍 一代又一代鹰族 （它们是永远的海王！）”

诗人以巧妙的文字来记述“今非昔比”的情境，似责问，又似解
答；似无奈，又似豁然，然而，读者可在诗句中感受诗人惋惜之情。诗人
接着采集一个现实个案来强化叙事：“一个八十七岁拄拐杖独步船头，他
说：我姓甘。 他是甘愿留下不走的人” 要告诉读者余留下来的大都像甘
姓老人一样，成了沧桑的“老人岛”，有点柳宗元的“孤舟蓑笠翁，独钓
寒江雪”的意味！这些老人甘愿留守在这座岛上，与大海与海鹰为伴，他
们不愿意一生所生活的海岛从此成了孤岛，并希望能够继续保守着滞留在
他们脑际中的岁月痕迹。

—5—

这座岛平时像一只沉睡的孤鸟，然而有两种情况偶尔把她唤醒：
一是“庙宇如新，信徒久不久来朝拜/ 一年几度喧哗”；二是“喜乐之家
的单亲孩子们/ 他们是孤岛的希望/ 他们的笑声，歌声/ 奔奔跳跳的影子/
激活岛的梦”。诗人的书写没有一笔沉到海底，在伤怀中又勾勒出几许的
喜气，即庙宇与儿童院，庙会的鼓声与单亲孩子的笑声，让孤岛顿时布满
了人气与声气，在伤感中透露喜感，让诗一忧一喜、一舒一张，跌宕起
伏，恰到好处。

〈问候大地与海洋〉可说是诗人把自己最熟悉的两个自然界：海
洋与大地，与自己的诗意人生进行微妙的三合一。他以诗来问候海洋与
大地，这三者与他的现实人生无法分割。诗人曾投入与大海搏斗的捕鱼
业，后来又转行经营民宿与种植桑树，先后与大海和大地亲近，似乎可
以听到它们跳动的脉搏，感受到它们体温的变化，不管是“问候大海，
我心海平静若水/ 昨夜翻滚过的思想继续涌动/ 山如浪，坚持用它倔犟的
精神/ 撞击天地之间，漫游心底的云/ 未来如此浩瀚，无边，无涯/ 我的梦
何曾停留?”或者“没有远离土地，抽离出来/ 诗是热带雨林中的禽鸟……
种玫瑰吧 ---- 等粉红的莎士比亚/ 盛开在简活中。美学是只蝴蝶/ 靠近
我的诗，我是/ 如此惊喜如此担忧/ 剪掉瘦瘦高高的桑枝” 在在证实了诗
与生活的亲密关系，在王涛的创作中得以实践。王涛善于从生活中取材，
从生活中提炼出诗句，从生活中触动情感，不管与高如山的海浪搏斗，
或在丰富的渔获中编制个人的美梦，或栽种玫瑰的当儿，或修剪桑枝采
摘桑叶，都是触发他写诗的灵感，因此，他的诗是从生活中提炼出来的
缪斯，而不是在象牙塔中以文学理论烘培出来的“定制蛋糕”。漂泊似
乎是他的特征，生活是他的诗的材质，多元性是诗的品种，大地与海洋
永远是他的诗的栖息之地。

三、借物抒情、物我合一
王涛也擅于咏物，或动物、或水果、或昆虫、或花草树木、或海

—6—

洋大地，取材广泛，时而为咏物与咏物，但更多时候是借物抒情，在这
部诗集里我们可举〈致蜻蜓〉来分析：

“而你翅翼如此平衡/ 昨夜轻轻飞过北方的大海/ 那里有一条罗兴
亚大船/ 徘徊在海洋上。”从蜻蜓开展平衡的翅膀飞跃大海，诗人想到罗
兴亚难民的船在颠簸的海浪上载浮载沉，因无法获准登岸而徘徊在海上，
他们可以脱离险境吗？如果他们都能化身蜻蜓那该多好啊！

“而你广角镜视野看见 我在树下看短片 一个黑人牧师在教会里
痛骂自己种族的无知与盲目 ——因着爱，他声嘶力竭 抗拒埋怨与消极”
从蜻蜓眼睛的特性，诗人推想许许多多的黑人牧师，就如马丁路德金那
样有着超乎常人的眼力，不只发现社会制度的不公而为其族群争取公平
权益；也发现自己族群的“无知与盲目”，而造成自己族裔被轻视与停
滞不前，内心转为“埋怨与消极”，而在讲台上声嘶力竭，盼能震耳发
聩以振兴自己的民族。

“你竟然扭转头/ 似乎嘲笑我/ 嘿嘿嘿——那么快速就变了天；
……青蛙跳进池塘就躲在荷叶底下/ ——你还不飞走吗/ ——那你为何还不
干活？”蜻蜓习惯性的不断转头，以找寻最好的“落脚地”，引出青蛙
从一荷叶跳到另一荷叶，然后躲在荷叶底下，还哇哇声的嘲笑别人不干
活！当出现“变天”、“青蛙”这两个词时，读者肯定会联想到大马政
治，即“喜来登行动”中的政治青蛙而导致一个民选的政治垮台，
“青蛙”如今已是挂在大马人民的口头禅。鬼才歌手黄明志最近也录制
了一首政治嘲讽的歌曲——Katak(青蛙)！

诗人善于运用蜻蜓的不同的感官与活动，连接不同的天下事：罗
兴亚难民问题、黑人问题、以及马来西亚的政治课题。从蜻蜓的视角看
到人世间的纷纷嚷嚷，让诗人更欣赏蜻蜓的悠闲平静，抛开一切的扰攘，

—7—

“你疾飞去池塘/ 我扛起锄头走向草地/ 啄木鸟的存在像远远响起的罗梦
海湾木鼓声”诗人意欲把一切的喧攘抛诸脑后，把情感融入在大自然之中。

另外〈脊椎痛〉也是一首物（脊椎）我（痛）合一，从个人的身
体感官推衍到国族课题的书写。诗人从个人的脊椎痛，延伸到国家的脊椎
痛：“谁告诉我/ 我们国家的脊椎/ 也严重受伤”，“哪个医生/ 可以治疗
我的痛？/ 哪个处方/ 可以根除/ 我们国家 人民的痛？”。脊椎是架起人
的身体直立的器官，可说是人无脊椎不立。脊椎的意象以拟人化的方式运
用在国家，表达了家国也面对立国立民的烦恼，期盼国家领导可以以身作
则，直立脊椎，别再玩弄政治，实实在在的为国家人民谋福利。

〈在 这土地上〉诗人毫无掩饰的批判了政治人物的自私与傲慢：
“你们的丑陋我们看见/ 你们的诡计我们看见/ 你们的傲慢我们看见/ 你们
的愚昧我们看见 我们知道，而你们…… / 人民的未来，却要交托你们手
上？/ 人民的生活，有无数挑战/ 这是疫情最肆击的时刻/ 这是生活困难重
重时期 /请保护这片土地/ 如果不懂耕种/ 请别喷洒嫉妒的毒药/ 种族与宗
教仇恨的种子/ 莫为了自私自利的权欲/ 蹂躏美丽的山川大地/ 你们的名字
会被埋葬/ 像打死的一条毒蛇/ 别以为人民无知/ 别以为人民无语/ 别以为
人民善忘/ 别以为人民服从/ 别以为我们人民没有力量……”这首诗写的
回肠荡气，告诫政治人物好自为之，人民的眼睛是雪亮的，那些不悔改的
政治人物最终将被人民所唾弃！

四、意象多元、寓意丰满
这部诗集可说是具体展示了王涛诗创作的对意象的灵巧运用。他

的诗意象丰富多元，举凡动物、植物、昆虫、鸟类、花草树木、自然界、
色彩等等，都被诗人灵活地运用以加深寓意与诗性。

在众多意象中，个人认为“桑”的意象用的最多，也最为深刻。

—8—

这或许桑与诗人有着非比寻常的关系。诗人的日常作业离不开桑，他种
植桑树、修剪桑枝，采摘桑叶，萃取桑叶的精华制造各种桑的产品，品
赏桑叶茶，桑与成为诗人最好的朋友，最衷心的伙伴。

〈桑之吟〉见证了诗人与桑化不开的情缘：“桑叶如若是诗篇/
十多年来我摘下/ 多少首，多少页/ 梦乡里的蚕蛹的蜕变/ 在一杯茶的芬
芳/ 天定海峡水穷处/ 慕洛山脚下/ 风雨叩问/ 一间老洋房/ 而老水手已不
在/ 汤申睡在九屿岛海床/ 帆锚/ 落在一株桑树旁/ 一个海岛来的诗者/ 乘
桑船，夜夜挑灯/ 航过海阔/ 翻越天空/ 当桑茶水沸腾时/ 伤怀可以读诗
温暖/ 伤寒，是不得了的事”。

这首诗是诗人最经典的生活写照。离开海岛故乡邦咯岛后，诗人
转到大地经营民宿种植桑树。从沧海到桑田之后，他的生活一刻离不开
桑树，每天与桑为友，获得许多写诗的灵感，一边采桑叶、一边写桑诗、
一边品桑茶，过着陶渊明式的田园生活，缪斯源源不绝。感谢桑树、礼
赞桑树，桑树忠心耿耿的苦乐相伴，农务与文学在此水乳交融。诗人与
桑的情感非比一般，在〈桑葚〉有更具象的形容： “是兄弟/ 是姐妹/ 是
亲人/ 是伴侣/ 是朋友/ 是同事/ 是同学，是/ 国家与人民/ 是人与
自然……/ 密密麻麻一串/ 依偎在一起/ 过一生/ 短暂而永恒”。桑的形象
在这里充分的拟人化，活灵活现。

〈桑歌〉更是借物抒怀，表达了诗人对家国“灯火晃荡”的忧虑，
以及“滚烫火热”的家国情： “手栽的桑树/ 手摘的桑叶/ 手作的桑茶/
沉淀后，一颗/ 滚烫的赤子心如桑葚/ 会唤醒吗/ 那在南洋风雨飘摇中/ 黑
夜里的桑魂/ 水深了/ 火热了/ 家国灯火晃荡/ 我在灯下等你/ 以一壶
清芬/ 滋润/ 你归来时的 哑”诗人曾经声嘶力竭以致咽喉“ 哑”，温
任平的〈流放是一种伤〉的那位歌者也曾唱到“ 哑”，似有异曲同工
之妙，但却不只于事无补，反而时局更趋混乱，在无奈之余，只能在桑

—9—

茶里寻找心灵的慰籍，吟诵桑树以获得内心的滋润与平复。

另外，在本诗集里唯一的散文诗〈石头像头颅那么硬〉，抓开
了一段已经结疤的华人历史创伤。24位无辜的Batang Kali村民在1948年
被英军指为共产党员而莫名的遭无情射杀，至今含冤未雪。“然而那声
响却像枪弹，击杀的是人——展示强大，其实 是懦弱无能罢了——多么
虚伪的影子，如同军靴踏过水 波和你的头；/ 石头在水里不曾睡觉，它睡
不着，它一闭上眼睛，就听到血的流动，白天或者夜晚，尤其月亮升 起
时;英国旗子，满山遍野的鸟鸣声回响叩问——你什么时候要
覆盖；”石头在诗中象征了不屈的冤魂，他们坚定不移，永不低头，不
断的向英军叩问，索讨公正，誓要英国人给予一个合理的说法，承认他
们的错误而公开道歉，以抚慰含冤数十年的英魂。

〈那株红叶——致母亲〉里，微妙地使用了日常生活的“吃饭”
意象，抒发了深挚的亲情：“儿时喊我们回家吃饭/ 少年叫我们回家吃
饭/ 长大吁我们回家吃饭/ 现在，我也逐渐老去/ 每年总想要至少一次/
像您的叮嘱我也叮嘱儿孙——回家吃餐饭” 以吃饭来表现母爱，也用
吃饭来延续亲情，一代接一代，亲情永传递，发挥华人的优良传统。

除以上四大创作特点外，这部诗集另外一个亮点是双语对照，
这已不是王涛的第一次尝试，之前他已出版过《王涛短诗选，中英对
照》。我个人很鼓励这种双语作品，毕竟大马是个多元语言、多元文
化的国家，此举可突破语言的限制，让更多读者可以欣赏。译者宋铭
老先生是一位经验丰富的翻译家，文学修养与英文造诣俱佳，本身也
曾出版诗作，之前也翻译了成君与杰伦的诗集。译文以精确与富诗意
的英文移译，诗原文与译文互相辉映，相得益彰。

王涛数十年如一日的写作，这种精神令人感佩。作为马华中生

— 10 —

代诗人，希望他一生笔耕不辍，并朝向经营更多长篇诗歌，如这部诗集
的题名诗〈拉律〉，并延续与发挥其恩师吴岸最擅长的抒情手法，必能
再攀另一座更高的诗峰。

总之，王涛的诗或抒情、或叙事、或怀古、或述今、或浪漫、
或写实、美感纷呈、情理交融。不论是汹涌澎湃的大海、平静崇高的山
脉、今非昔比的海岛、埋在地底下的番薯、情如手足的桑树、坚硬不屈
的石头、七彩缤纷的颜色、似真似幻的巨象、水汁饱满的水果、自由自
在的蜻蜓，经诗人一一的拾掇，一一的反刍，一一再造，皆能一一入诗，
令王涛的诗富生活底气，富生存的哲理，富个人独特的诗意，读之兼具
生命的启发、情感的流动与诗性的滋润。

是为序。

许文荣博士
2022年8月31日

— 11 —

P reface

Evanescence of Worldly A airs
Preface to Wang Tao’s bilingual poetry collection, Larut

I came to know Wang Tao, the straightforward and handsome poet for more
than a decade ago. At that time, I was looking for information about Du
Yunxie at Manjung Literary Association (Pertubuhan Penulis Manjung) in
Setiawan, Perak. We had a good conversation. Since we share the same
religion and are about the same age, naturally we have become literary
friends. Although our interactions were not frequent, we did visit each other
from time to time, which enhanced our friendship.

Like the majority of Malaysian Chinese writers, Wang Tao is not a writer by
occupation. Malaysian Chinese writers are purely a matter of strong personal
interest and belief. ey have their own professions, and while they squeeze in
a little time a er work, or while others are having tea and entertainment in
their spare time, they are quietly working on their writing, not looking for any
reward, but just wanting to be able to express their inner thoughts and
feelings, and to share their new works with a few fellow writers, which is their
greatest pleasure. A er all, in today’s world which is dominated by a multitude
of sound and visuals, the literary industry is a sub-niche market, especially
poetry.

Wang Tao has lived a life of highs and lows, seemingly with the melancholy
and fortitude of a man who has weathered the world and is also a poet full of
stories. He put pen to paper in his teens, writing everything from prose and

— 12 —

ction to poetry. His precocious nature is the result of his formative years.
Born in Pangkor Island, he grew up with the sea and his family relied on it for
their livelihood. He grew up helping his father mend shing nets, dropped
out of high school, and together, with his other two brothers of his joined
forces to run a shing company.

He has spent more time at sea than on land. When the shing business went
downhill, the three brothers decided to split up and he personally le the sea
for the land. He later bought a British-style house plus a piece of land not far
from the island and has been running a homestay business ever since,
planting mulberry trees on that sizeable piece of land, studying them, and
making the most of their economic value.

As his mentor Wu An put it, his life changed dramatically as he moved from
the sea to the land. A er leaving the sea, he was at a loss. A er all, he was a
child of the sea, just as a sh leaves the water to live on land, and began to face
the problems of adaptation. e foggy future, and the shipwreck of his
brother, have made him depressed for a while. Perhaps man’s desperate path
was God’s beginning when the light of Christ shone into his heart, and the
faith, hope, and love of God led him out of his gloom to a new chapter of life.

From sea to land, his life was a new beginning, a new experience, a new
challenge, and a new adaptation. e island gave him the will to persevere,
and he was able to ride out the rough seas and waves, and the journey was full
of thorns, loneliness and solitude, but he eventually overcame them all and
move on. All these journeys in his life became the valuable inspiration,
subject matters, motivation and transcendence for his poetry. Yes, from the
sea to the earth, his poetic style also changed from sharp and impassioned to
quiet and concise, full of philosophical thoughts; but of course, the compassion

— 13 —

for people and the desire to express something remained the same.

We can get a glimpse of his latest poetic style in this collection of his poems,
Larut. In more than thirty years of writing, he has published at least six poetry
anthologies: e Fishermen’s Dinner (1990), Only the waves know how deep
is our love (2000), e pickled Chinese Cabbages (2003), Battling over the sea
again (2009), A Selected Poetry of Wang Tao (2011), and e sea wakes up
a er you: A Collection of Poems about the Island (2015). Most of these
poems are associated with islands and the sea, but this latest collection is
named a er the earth - Larut - showing his consciousness to change the poetic
style. His incessant creativity has built him up as a poetic veteran, allowing
him to capture imagery with subtlety, use words with precision, and carefully
blend beauty and thought to produce ne works.

I. Double entendre, the combination of virtual and reality
e main poem “Larut” is named a er an old place, which was less commonly

used a er the name Taiping became common. However, it is a famous
historical keyword, where the famous Larut Wars were fought. Before the rise
of Kuala Lumpur, Larut / Taiping was also the capital of the Unfederated
Malay States. Larut has a certain old-fashioned charm that invites a sense of
longing for the past.

In this poem, “Larut” is transformed from the name of a place to that of a
sacred elephant, to which the name originally belonged. It was a giant
elephant kept by the chief of a tribe in Perak, Long Jaafar, who one day
escaped into the forest due to the negligence of its owner and was later found
with a large amount of tin stuck to its feet and body. e disappearance of the
elephant led to the accidental discovery of the tin, and Larut became a place
of contention.

— 14 —

Besides, Larut makes a double entendre in this poem, the written content
represents a giant elephant, but the implicit content implies a land of seizure,
revealing the ambition and greed of mankind. e richness of tin was such
that people from all walks of life came to the forest to mine it, ushering in
nearly a century of prosperity. is glory is beyond the elephant's control, and
it is unable to prevent the destruction of its original habitat, the rainforest.
“Your descendants have lost the forests from time to time/ and deprived of
their natural livelihood, the land for survival/ even that buried under the
ground for 6500 years, the old tree trunks huge/ like your body/ were dug and
exhibited together with you/ All are bodies that couldn’t move.” e poem was
written a er the poet saw the statue of Larut, a giant elephant, during a visit to
the tin mining museum in Kampar. Hence the depiction of the elephant and
the roots of the tree as simultaneous exhibits. Does Larut regret having
‘escaped’ and allowed humans to discover the treasure, but at the expense of
the survival of his own kind, for whom “freedom is much more precious than
gold and tin” is perhaps the aptest response?

From the actual ‘history’, the poet moves to the present, giving Larut a new
mission: “In this peninsula/ you are required to discover some secret
formulas/ that could eliminate racial chauvinism/that could eradicate religion
biases/ that could weed out corruption and ignorance, superstition and
arrogance/ O, all these actually are——/ a blind person feeling an elephant.” In
the face of the current political chaos, the poet has no choice but to pin his
hopes on the elephant, to give it a divine mission to escape once again to nd
a recipe for the Malaysian people, like the great discovery it made
inadvertently, to remove all kinds of political deadlock, including racial
politics, religious extremism, corruption, and ignorance. e elephant has,
a er all, become a museum statue, “You are not moving at all”, and hopes are
doomed to fail.

— 15 —

In any case, the poet seems resigned to the fact that man can no longer be
relied upon, and that he can only hope for the magical power of this giant
elephant. e poet breaks down the space-time barrier of dualism and gives
free rein to his imagination: “Larut! O, strong and robust!/ You must go
quickly/ and come back quickly/ before the retirement of the stars/ I am
anxiously waiting for you/ in the morning when the sun is rising/ I call you
loudly with all my might/ and watch towards the dark jungle/ a huge elephant
tracking in the Titiwangsa mountain/ is that you?/ Larut! Larut!/ Where are
you?/ When will you come back?”

e poem is a mixture of the poet’s sentiments of the past and his sudden
whims; there is a remembrance of history and lamentation of the current
political dilemma, creating an interplay of history and reality. Discontent,
resentment and helplessness towards realpolitik, and the hope for a miracle to
set things right, also appear from time to time in his other poems.

“ e Mount Titiwangsa” is a song about the forest for the Aboriginal people.
Mount Titiwangsa is a geographical term in Malaysia, but it is also used to
refer to the homeland and mountains of the mountain people. e poem
opens with a very concise account of the destruction of their home, the
rainforest: “ e timbers were carried away by huge trucks/ e roars echoed/
In the mountains/ In the jungles”. How extraordinarily heart-breaking for the
sons and daughters of the mountains and forests, whose homes are constantly
being destroyed! “I have lied up a sharp arrow/ Like trees taking roots, a
sacred tree/ could never be pulled down, or broken by saw.” e poet dives
into the psyche of the aborigines and tries to resist but is powerless to do so.

ey can only long for the miracle to happen, which is that a er the “sharp
arrow” they shoot, every tree has a god bending over it, immovable as a
mountain, no tree can be overthrown and dominated by the greedy capitalists.

— 16 —

e poet continues to speak for the Aborigines: “Generation over generation
the aborigines live quietly/ Mountains and jungles their homes/ Rivers are
their motherland/ A fallen leaf is the death of a dear one/ e death of a bird
or beast/ means the departure of a brother.” He expresses their uncontested
life in the mountains and forests, where they are as close to the forest as
family and brothers, but how this peaceful life has been destroyed! What can
be tolerated or not? In the midst of their grief, the poet reminds them that the
Aborigines are not weak, they will rise up and ght back, and they cry out in
a bold voice: “But I remain bravely erect like a ridge/ My tribal heroes are
proudly overlooking at you/ …… I’m telling you I have come back/ to protect
the land inherited from our ancestors”.

II. Remembering with poetry, a blend of emotions and reasonings
e fourth poem in this collection, “Pulau Pasir Hitam”, is a story of the rise

and fall of a small island. Unlike the usual pure narrative, the poet has
incorporated his own personal feelings, perhaps because he is also from the
island and has a greater sense of the island and the changes of people on it.

Pulau Pasir Hitam is a small island o the northwest coast of Perak, a typical
Chinese shing village. At its peak, it had over 3,000 inhabitants, but as more
and more people migrate to the mainland of Peninsular Malaysia, at present
less than a hundred people still live on the island. It is said that she was once
a possession of the King of the Sea, a stronghold of the Hong Mun
Association, and a participant in the anti-Japanese and anti-British
resistance, all of which are recounted in the poem, taking the reader through
the corridors of history and the sights and sounds of this island. History is
history, and a er the remembrance, we must return to reality: “ e islanders,
where did they go?/ ere are houses with no inhabitant/ ere are bridges
without passer-by/ ere are schools without pupils/ ere is rainwater that

— 17 —

nobody drinks/ ere are sceneries that nobody appreciates/ ere is a cloud
that no one cares/ except the temples, there is occasional burning of incenses/
Looking at the sky and sea, only a few people stay behind/ e sea remains a
sea, the sky remains a sky/ Always misty and hazy/ Always vast and extensive/

e eagles in the sky soar leisurely/ ey keep multiplying/ One generation
a er another/ ey are the Kings of the sea!”.

e poet uses subtle wordings to recount a situation that is “not what it used
to be”, seemingly as a reproach, but also as an answer; seemingly helpless, but
also seemingly enlightened, yet the reader can feel the poet's regret in the
lines. e poet goes on to collect a real-life case to strengthen the narrative:
“An old man of 87 years holding a crutch, / walking alone on the bow said: my
surname is “Gan”/ He chooses to stay on willingly”. e poet tries to tell the
reader that most of those le behind are like the old man Gan, who made the
island become the “old man’s island”, the artistic conception is similar to Liu
Zongyuan's “A lonely sherman a oat, is shing snow in a lonely boat”. ese
old people are willing to stay on this island, with the sea and sea eagles as their
companions. ey do not want the island they have lived on all their lives to
become an isolated island, and they want to keep the traces of the years that
remain in their minds.

e island is usually like a sleeping bird, but two things occasionally wake her
up: rstly, “ e temple looks quite new, followers come to pray occasionally/
Each year there are several clamorous occasions” ; secondly, “the children of
the single parents in the “Happy Home”/ ey are the hope for the lonely
island/ their laughter, their songs/ the shadows that bounce around/ to
reactivate the dream of the island again” . e poet's writing does not sink to
the bottom of the sea, but outlines a bit of joy in the sadness, i.e., the temple
and the children’s home, the drums of the temple fair and the laughter of the

— 18 —

single-parent children, making the lonely island suddenly lled with
popularity and sound. e poem reveals a sense of joy in the midst of sadness,
allowing the poem to express the sorrow, joyous, relief, and ups and downs in
just the right way.

“Greeting the Land and Ocean” can be said to be a subtle trinity of the poet’s
two most familiar natural worlds: the sea and the land, and his poetic life. He
greets the sea and the land in poetry, which are inseparable from the reality of
his life. e poet once went into shing, where he battled with the sea, and
later turned to running a homestay business and planting mulberry trees,
getting close to the sea and the land in turn, as if he could hear their beating
pulses and feel the changes in their temperature, whether it is “When I ask the
ocean, my heart is calm like water/ e thought that surged last night
continues to billow/ like waves, it is so stubborn/ dashing between the earth
and sky/ like the roving clouds in my heart/ e future is vast and boundless/
Does ever my dream come to a stop?” or “If I don’t go far away, or being taken
out?/ Poetries are birds in the tropical forest…… To plant a rose......waiting
for its blossom/ a pink Shakespeare over a simple life. / Aesthetics is only a
buttery getting closer to my poetry, I am surprised/ and worry/ a er
trimming the thin and high twigs” . It con rms the intimate relationship
between poetry and life, practiced in Wang Tao’s creations. Wang Tao is adept
at taking material from life, distilling verses from life, and touching emotions
from life, whether he is battling waves as high as mountains, or compiling
personal dreams of beauty in the richness of his catch, or planting roses when
he plants them or pruning mulberry branches to pick mulberry leaves, all are
triggers for him to write poems, and thus his poems are muses distilled from
life, rather than baked in an ivory tower with literary theories “bespoke cakes”.
Wandering seems to be his characteristic, life is the material of his poems,
plurality is the variety of poems, and the earth and the sea are always the

— 19 —

habitats of his poems.

III. Lyricism through objects and the harmonization of object and self
Wang Tao is also good at describing things, either animals, fruits, insects,

owers, trees, or the sea and earth, taking a wide range of subjects, sometimes
just for the purpose of portraying, but more o en for expressing emotions
through objects, in this collection of poems we can take “To the dragon y” as
an example.

“Your wings looked so balanced/ e northern sea that you ew over solely
last night/ there was a large boat full of Rohingya people on the sea.” From the
dragon y’s balanced wings ying over the sea, the poet thinks of the
Rohingya refugees’ boats oating and sinking on the rough waves, wandering
on the sea because they cannot be allowed to disembark. How wonderful it
would be if they could all take on the form of dragon ies!

“You observed through a wide-angle lens/ and you saw me watching a short
video under a tree/ A black pastor was scolding his people’s ignorance and
blindness——because of love, he shouted at the top of his voice/ He rejected
complaints and pessimism”. From the characteristics of the dragon y’s eyes,
the poet imagines that many black ministers, like Martin Luther King, have
extraordinary eyesight, not only discovering the injustice of the social system
and ghting for the rights of their community, but also discovering the
“ignorance and blindness” of their own community, causing their own
ethnicity to be despised and stagnant, and turning inwardly to grumbling and
negativity, and raising their voices from the pulpit in the hope of reviving
their own people.

“you turned away your head/ You seemed mocking at me/ Hei, hei, hei——

— 20 —

the weather changed so fast……A er jumping into the pond, the frogs hid
under the lotus leaves/ ——can’t you y away?/ ——why are you not
working? ” . e dragon y habitually turns its head to nd the best place to
land, leading to the frog jumping from one lotus leaf to another, then hiding
under the leaf and laughing at others for not working! When the words “the
weather changed” and “frog” are used, the reader is sure to be reminded of
Malaysian politics, i.e., the political frog in the Sheraton move that led to the
downfall of a democratically elected political party. e word “frog” has now
become a mantra for Malaysians. e gi ed singer Namewee Wong has
recently recorded a political mockery song - Katak (Frog)!

e poet uses the di erent senses and activities of the dragon y to connect
di erent world issues: the Rohingya refugee issue, the black issue, an political
issues in Malaysia. e poet appreciates the leisurely calmness of the
dragon ies, leaving behind all the commotion, “You quickly ew towards the
pond/ I carried a hoe and walked towards the eld/ e existence of the
woodpeckers was like/ the sounds of the wooden drums coming from Muroh
Bay far away”. e poet wants to leave all the hustle and bustle behind and
immerse himself in nature.

In addition, “ Spinal pains” is also a piece that unites the object (spine) and
self (pain), extrapolating from the individual's physical senses to the national
subject. e poet extends from his personal spinal pain to the spinal pain of
the nation: “who told me/ the spine of our country/ was seriously injured
too? ” , “Is there a doctor/ who could solve my pain?/ Is there a prescription/
to cure totally the pains/ of our country/ and our people? ” . e spine is the
organ that holds the human body upright and it can be said that no one can
stand without a spine. e imagery of the spine is used in an
anthropomorphic way expressing that the nations are also faced with the

— 21 —

troubles of establishing the country, hoping that the leaders of the country
will set an example by erecting the spine, stop playing politics and work for
the welfare of the country and the nation.

In the poem entitled “On this piece of land”, the poet is unabashedly critical of
the sel shness and arrogance of political gures: “We could see your ugliness/
We could see your scheming/ We could see your arrogance/ We could see your
ignorance/ We know, but not you....../ e people’s future, why must it be
entrusted into your hands?/ e people’s livelihood, there are plenty of
challenges/ At this moment the epidemic is rife/ People are facing multiple
layers of hardship/ Please protect this piece of land/ If you do not know how
to plough/ Please not to spread the poison of jealousy/ and the seed of racist
and religious hatred/ Please not to trample this land to full your sel sh desire/
Your name would be buried/ like a serpent beaten to dead/ Don’t take for
granted the people’s innocence/ Don’t take for granted the people’s silence/
Don’t take for granted the people’s forgetfulness/ Don’t take for granted the
people’s docility/ Don’t overlook the people’s power......” is poem is a
poignant warning to politicians to behave themselves, the people’s eyes are
discerning, and those unrepentant politicians will eventually be spurned by
the people!

IV. Diverse imagery and rich symbolism
is collection of poems is a concrete demonstration of Wang Tao’s de use of

imagery in his poetry. His poems are rich in imagery, including animals,
plants, insects, birds, owers, trees, nature, colours, and so on, all of which the
poet uses exibly to deepen the allegorical and poetic meaning.

Of all the imagery, I think that the imagery of “mulberry” is the most
frequently used and the most profound. Perhaps this is because the mulberry

— 22 —

has an extraordinary relationship with the poet. He planted mulberry trees,
pruned mulberry branches, picked mulberry leaves, extracted the essence of
mulberry leaves to make various mulberry products, and enjoyed mulberry
tea, making mulberry the poet’s best friend and most heartfelt companion.

“Ode to the mulberry Plants” is a testament to the poet’s inseparable love a air
with the mulberry: “If a mulberry leaf is a piece of poetry/ over a decade/ how
many pieces, how many pages have I plucked?/ e silkworms in my dream
have incarnated/ within the time of drinking a cup of nice tea/ At the end of
the Dinding Straits/ at the foot of the Mount Muruh/ storm occurs frequently/

ere is an old bungalow/ but the old sailor is no more there/ omson is still
sleeping at the seabed of Pulau Sembilan/ e anchor is deserted beside a
mulberry tree/ A poet from an island came in mulberry boat/ writing
studiously under the light every night/ He had sailed across the vast sea and/
own over the sky/ When the tea of mulberry leaves is boiled/ the a icted
heart could be warmed by reading poetry/ Catching a cold could be a serious
matter”.

is poem is a classic portrait of the poet’s life. A er leaving his hometown,
Pangkor Island, the poet moved to the land to run a homestay business and
plant mulberry trees. A er moving from the sea to the land, he could not live
without the mulberry tree for a moment, and every day he befriended it,
gaining much inspiration to write poetry, picking mulberry leaves, writing
mulberry poems and sipping mulberry tea, living a Tao Yuanming-style
idyllic life, with an endless stream of muses. anks to the mulberry tree and
in honour of the tree, the mulberry tree is a loyal and bittersweet companion,
where farming and literature are blended. e poet’s extraordinary a nity
with the mulberry has a more tangible form in “ e mulberries” : “We are/
brothers/ sisters/ kinsmen/ spouses/ friends/ colleagues/ schoolmates/ a

— 23 —

nation and people/ humans and nature/ closely/ clustered together/ sticking
together/ live through a lifetime/ short but eternal”. e image of the
mulberry is fully anthropomorphised and brought to life here.

“ e mulberry song” is a poem that expresses the poet’s concern about the
unstable condition of his home country and his passionate love for his home
country: “ e mulberry tree I planted by hand/ e mulberry leaves I plucked
by hand/ e mulberry tea I prepared by hand/ once they were settling down/
whether/ like a mulberry fruit/ could the boiling young heart/ awaken/ the
mulberry soul in the dark night/ over the turbulent land of Nanyang/ e
water is going deeper/ e re warming/ e nation’s lights wavering/ I am
waiting for you under the lamp/ with a pot of fragrant tea/ to moisten/ your
thick throat when you come back”. e poet was once so hoarse that his throat
became ‘mute’, and the singer in Wen Renping’s “Exile is a kind of wound” the
seasoned singer also sang ‘mute’, which seems to have a similar e ect.
However it not only didn’t help, but the situation became even more chaotic.
In the end, the poet had no choice but to nd solace in mulberry tea and recite
the mulberry tree for inner nourishment and peace.

On the other hand, the only prose poem in the collection, “A Rock Hard As a
Skull”, scratches open a scarred piece of the Chinese history. 24 innocent
villagers of Batang Kali were inexplicably and mercilessly shot by the British
army in 1948, accused of being communists, and remain unjustly murdered.
“but the noises were like gunshots that could kill people——to show o their
power, but actually they were coward and incompetent——the hypocritical
images, like the army boots stepping over water and your head./ e stones
had never slept in water. ey couldn’t sleep. As they close their eyes, they
could hear the blood running, day and night, especially when the moon rises.
Over the mountain and eld, the birds chirp and ask——when are you going

— 24—

to cover those open and upright rocks with the English ags?” In the poem,
the stones symbolise the unyielding souls of the unjust, who are steadfast and
will never bow down, constantly kowtowing to the British, demanding
justice, vowing that the British will give a fair account, admit their mistakes
and apologise publicly to soothe the souls of the unjust for decades.

In “ at red-leaf tree”, the poet makes subtle use of the imagery of eating in
everyday life to express his deep a ection: “was a boy you shouted at us to
come home for a meal, / was a junior you called us to come home for a meal, /
became a man you appealed to us to come home for a meal/ Nowadays, I am
getting old too/ Every year at least for one occasion——/ I would follow your
way sounding to my children/ and grandchildren to come home for a meal” .

e poem uses eating to show our mother’s love, and we also use eating to
continue this a ection, from generation to generation, this a ection will
continue to be passed on, in order to preserve the ne Chinese tradition.

Apart from the above four major creative features, another highlight of this
collection is the bilingualism, which is not the rst attempt by Wang Tao, as
he has already published “Wang Tao’s Short Poems with English Translation”.
Malaysia is a multilingual and multicultural country, so this is a way to break
through the language barrier and allow more readers to appreciate these ne
works. e translator, Mr. Song Meng, is an experienced translator with
excellent literary skills and English language pro ciency, and has also
published his own poetry, as well as translated the poetry of Cheng Jun and
Jie Lun. e translation is a precise and poetic transfer of the Chinese to the
English language, with the original poem and the translation complementing
each other.

Wang Tao has been writing for decades, and his spirit is admirable. As a

— 25 —

mid-career poet of Malaysian Chinese writer, I hope that he will continue to
write throughout his life and could more focus on longer poems, such as the
titled poem of this collection, “Larut”, and continue to employ the lyrical
expression of his mentor, Wu An, which he is best known for. Hopefully, he
could achieve a higher poetic peak in the year ahead.

All in all, Wang Tao’s poems are lyrical, narrative, nostalgic, modern,
romantic, or realistic, with a wide range of beauty and a blend of emotions
and reasonings. Whether it is the surging sea, the calm and sublime
mountains, the islands that are not what they used to be, the sweet potatoes
buried in the ground, the mulberry trees that are like siblings, the hard and
unyielding stones, the diversi ed colours, the giant elephant that seems to be
real, the fruits that are full of water and juice, the dragon ies that are free and
at ease, the poet picks them up one by one, regurgitates them one by one, and
recreates them one by one, all of them can be entered into the poems, making
Wang Tao’s poems rich in life, rich in the philosophy of survival, rich in his
poetic characteristics. It gives the reader inspiration, the emotional and poetic
nourishment.

Dr. Khor Boon Eng
August 31, 2022

*Translator: Annie Wong Pooi Hang

— 26 —

辑 流
一

浪

诗

族
Chapter 1
e Vagrant's Poems

辑 Chapter 1
一
拉 律 Larut The Vagrant's Poems
•
*拉律，拉律! 你并不知道
你的名字转变成战争 流
而你后代越来越失去森林 浪
没有自然生活与生存地方 诗
就连那六千五百多年前 族
埋在地底冲击层的古树干
硕大无比如你躯干，被挖掘 •
而今，与你一样被展示
是动弹不得的物体
遭旅人
指指点点
拍照留念

拉律!拉律!
我知道你注视着我
在金宝山脚下
我读出你的痛苦和孤独
当我伸手触碰你
忽然
你体温升高，重烧你梦想
你要回到森林最深处
在中央山脉做流浪诗族
你要寻找一个沼泽地，洗涤
你身体与心灵的忧伤

— 27 —

辑 Chapter 1
一
拉律! 拉律! The Vagrant's Poems
如果可以你要不要—— •
我放你回森林里寻找
快快寻觅一个沼泽地 流
隆查阿法不在，你不必害怕 浪
尽管去，如你当年泥淖里滚动 诗
锡米沾满你粗壮四足 族
你不觉得脚步沉重吗
解除束缚的锁链 •
自由
比黄金锡米
昂贵
你奔跑向那茂密的丛林
炎热的赤道雨林
遮掩不了暑热难耐
当你被寻觅，被人们气喘吁吁
捉回来之后，世界翻天覆地
你知道吗？

拉律! 拉律!
霹雳州雷霆万钧，你没想到
马来半岛枪炮声轰隆
英国雇佣兵步枪神威
苏丹皇族割据霹雳埠
大量大陆南部华人远渡南洋
印度人开辟道路
邦咯条约之后
那艘大船不知何在
霹雳州因此有史书之外的
天定州

— 28 —

辑 Chapter 1
一
不乱既是太平，在太平的蓝天下 The Vagrant's Poems
近打山谷 •
霹雳河流域
锡米一船又一船航运 流
到大不列颠国 浪
那是从前荷兰人离开后的殖民国度 诗
矿场有数不尽的故事与传奇 族

拉律! 拉律! •
你在我的幻影里快快逃逸
马上逃出这阴暗的展览室
这半岛
需要你去寻觅特别宝物秘方
比如铲除种族极端思维
比如消灭狭隘宗教意识
比如挖掘贪婪与无知，比如
剔除愚昧与狂傲，这一切
竟然是，啊! ——瞎子摸象

拉律! 拉律
你是神奇的巨灵(Berolak Tinggi)
霹雳神勇，我相信你能
我多渴望你能够
开创崭新的马来西亚
让我等你回来，我们期盼
你四个大脚，会沾满
如当年的锡米闪烁
焕发着智慧的光芒
你必定带回公义的矿物
琉琅女

— 29 —

辑 Chapter 1
一
洗呀洗出惊喜 The Vagrant's Poems
•
拉律! 啊，强壮的拉律!
你速速去 流
你快快回来 浪
在星光归隐之前 诗
我切切地等候你 族
在冉冉升起的朝阳中
我声嘶力竭的呼唤你 •
我会望着黑暗的森林
蒂蒂旺莎山脉好像走动的巨象
那是你吗?
拉律! 拉律!
你在哪里?
你什么时候归来?
拉律! 拉律!
我转身
在冷气室里
你依旧岿然站立
静静地
拉律！拉律！
你一动也不动

——写于2019.2.25

注 : 拉律(LARUT)，据记载是霹雳州酋长隆查阿法所眷养的大象，因逃离到森林，后来被寻回，
被发现其脚上和身体，沾粘着大量的锡米。拉律的模型雕像在金宝(KAMPAR)近打 工 (沙
泵)博物馆。

— 30 —

辑 Chapter 1
一

L arut • The Vagrant's Poems

Larut*, Larut! You did not know 流
Your name was converted into a battle 浪
Your descendants have lost the forests from time to time 诗
and deprived of their natural livelihood, the land for survival 族
even that buried under the ground for 6500 years, the old tree trunks
huge like your body •
were dug and exhibited together with you
All are bodies that couldn’t move
Tourists point out at you
and take photographs as mementos

Larut! Larut!
I knew you were staring at me
At the hillside of Kampar
I read your sorrows and loneliness
When I touched you with my hand
suddenly
your body temperature went high and your dream was ignited again
You wanted to return to the depth of the forest
You looked for a swampy area to let your griefs be cleared

Larut! Larut!
If possible, would you want me——
to send you back to the forest to nd
quickly a piece of swamp
You shouldn’t be afraid, Long Jaafar was no more there
You could go ahead to wallow in the swamp as you had been in those days
When your four legs were fully stained with tin ore
were you not feeling clumsy your steps?
As you were relieved from the shackles
freedom is much more precious than gold and tin
and you could galloped freely in the thick forest

— 31 —

辑 Chapter 1
一

•

e tropical rain forest is extremely hot beyond tolerance 流 The Vagrant's Poems

When you were found and captured by the panting men again 浪
the world turned chaotic
Did you know? 诗
Larut! Larut!
族

e state of Perak was in battles and you had not thought of
the wars fought in those days over the peninsula
e British mercenary army invaded the state with guns
Lands of the royal families were ceded to the British invaders
Large number of Chinese started to migrate from southern China
to South East Asia
e Indians came to construct roads soon a er
A er the Pangkor Treaty
the whereabouts of that huge vessel was unknown
•

Perak earned the name of “ Dinding”, peaceful state
But this was not inscribed in the historical book
Not chaotic means peaceful, the blue sky of Taiping
At Kinta Valley
the Perak river basin
shipping vessels carrying tin ore to Great Britain arrived one a er another
is was the colony le behind by the Dutch
e mines had numerous stories and legends

Larut! Larut!
You disappeared quickly from my hallucination
I had to get out from the dark exhibition room
In this peninsula
you are required to discover some secret formulas
that could eliminate racial chauvinism
that could eradicate religion biases
that could weed out corruption and ignorance,
superstition and arrogance
O，all these actually are——
a blind person feeling an elephant

Larut! Larut!
You are a wonderful elephant

— 32 —

辑 Chapter 1
一
ercely brave, but I can count on you The Vagrant's Poems
I am looking forward to you •
to create a new Malaysia
Let me wait for you to come back 流
eagerly looking forward to see again 浪
your four legs stained with the shining tin ore of the past 诗
and the show of your brilliant wisdom 族
You must bring back the justice for the minerals,
the Dulang girls
how they washed and turned out happiness in surprise

Larut! O, strong and robust! •
You must go quickly
and come back quickly
before the retirement of the stars
I am anxiously waiting for you
in the morning when the sun is rising
I call you loudly with all my might
and watch towards the dark jungle

e huge elephant tracking in the Titiwangsa mountain
is that you?
Larut! Larut!
Where are you?
When will you come back?
Larut! Larut!
As I turn my body
you remain steadfastly standing
quietly in silence
in the air-conditioned room
Larut, Larut!
You are not moving at all!

——Written on 25/2/2019

Note: According to record, Larut was an elephant bred by the chie ain Long Jaafar of Perak. It had once run into
the forest, but was discovered later with its legs and body covered with large volume of tin ore. e sculpture of
Larut is kept in the Kinta Tin Mine Industrial museum at Kampar.

— 33 —

辑 Chapter 1
一
番 薯与沙葛 The Vagrant's Poems
—— 锡矿废弃农耕地 •

沉默是祖传的生活哲学 流
租赁土地博弈过日子 浪
敞开心扉一叶叶天空 诗
吐露梦呓如紫色花卉 族
偶尔想起被谁无理挨骂
不屑于调侃 •
回甘榜种梦
种植蓝蓝的 黑黑的
灰灰的天色
一条条命，粗鲁鲁地
从贫瘠沙土里吃出来

叶子如喇叭
向风吟唱无声的歌
修剪人妇女一边谈说
曾经洗流琅的故事，一边剪掉
花的思索，剪去了
叶梗的冲动
那耸起背脊的山
日夜等候
亿万年前那暴风雨

一切历史的真实
终要归到土壤里
不慎听闻路过的老者

— 34 —

辑 Chapter 1
一
述说 瘦的*三年零八个月 The Vagrant's Poems
热带风吹着矿砂灼灼 •
艰苦奋斗为繁殖生命基因
梦想被季节风雨打落 流
天 —— 肥硕的敬仰 浪
地 —— 未来更宽广 诗
族
岁月流逝在交替种植之中
农人铭记只要坚持到底 •
安分守己，静默
遂修成一种个性
生命若是已然洁白如雪
掀开迟疑，互相
拔掉一层皮
虚伪只需要一层皮
勤劳是铿锵的傲骨

——写于2016.6.21 金宝

注 : “3 年 8 个月”指第二次世界大战皇军侵占马来亚时期

— 35 —

辑 Chapter 1
一
S weet Potatoes and Yam Beans The Vagrant's Poems
—— a deserted arable land beside a tin mine •
Taciturnity is an ancestral philosophy of life
To make a living 流
I rented a land to ght for survival 浪
With an open mind like a sky 诗
I had disclosed a dream of pink ower 族
Sometimes I thought of the unreasonable sco s on me
But I preferred to ignore •
I returned to my Kampong to plant a dream
planting a blue and a black crop
under a grey sky
Life, raw and rough, was pulled put one by one
from the infertile sandy land

e leaf looked like a trumpet
bracing against the wind quietly

e women who trimmed used to talk
about the old story of tin mining
As they trimmed the overgrown owers
they also cut o the overspread stems

e rising ridge of the hill
waited day and night
for the hurricane of 100 million years ago

All historical facts would be eventually buried under the earth
Inadvertently, I heard an old passer-by talk about the miseries
during the dark days
for 3 years and 8 months*

e tropical storm was blowing the hot ore
and men were in bitter struggle for the reproduction of future generation
But the dream was blown o by the monsoon wind and rain

— 36 —

辑 Chapter 1
一
To heaven——they prayed for a bumper harvest The Vagrant's Poems
To earth——they wish the future be wider •
Time passed swi ly in the course of pursuing the various types
of farming 流
浪
e farmers rmly believed by hard-work, 诗
be disciplined, and kept quiet 族
a strong character could be developed
life would be smooth •
Avoid hesitation
prepare to help each other
by removing the skin of hypocrisy,
diligence is the cornerstone for success

——Written on 21/6/2016 at Kampar

Note: “3 years 8 months” refers to Japanese Occupation of Malaya in 2nd world war.

— 37 —

辑 Chapter 1
一
蒂 蒂旺莎山脉 The Vagrant's Poems
•
永远青春的绿火，燃烧
高耸起伏亘古的盟约 流
云层掩盖天空 浪
传说，那里有仰望的 诗
天堂之门。亿万年前 族
始主使劲抛一块石头
山谷 •
回音
穿透天宇，反射
在亿万年后
凭竹窗思索的月影下
你悠悠叹息

半岛有歌，传送在热带流星雨中
灯，微微亮在漆黑的夜
大树桐被山霸王载走
吼吼的咆哮，回荡
山
林
谁在回乡的道路上蜿蜒
是你吗？我的族人
是你吗？飞禽走兽
而梦飘在风中，在星光下
（山埃无色。无味。无形。无影踪。无新闻）

— 38 —

辑 Chapter 1
一
我的刀，砍伐一棵流血的树藤 The Vagrant's Poems
流水啊流水，逝如那逐渐模糊的乡愁 •
地土，河川，森林
铺盖着惊慌的梦与恐惧 流
站立在高耸山脉上 浪
我远远地眺望云海 诗
云海里有你——神啊 族
我的神啊，祖宗的神啊
你在哪里，在哪里庇佑 •

我高举一把锋利的箭
扎根如树，一棵神树
它们永远推不倒　锯不断
我走动在低谷与高山
在黑暗而神秘的夜晚
无数的生灵在哭泣，那声音
凄清又哀怨，隐约
看见喜悦的精灵在跳动
沾满露水欢歌飞舞
一代一代的山民默默生活
山林是家园
河流是故乡
一片叶子凋零，就是
一个亲人的伤逝
一只鸟兽的死亡，便是
一个兄弟的告别

无可忘却的颜色，图腾
遗失色彩失去仰望之神
披绿衫的流水什么时候

— 39 —