Mo Ye 莫邪 (b. 1950)
CRITICAL INTRODUCTION
随风而逝——浅析莫邪的反战诗与感悟 [Gone with the Wind: Analysing Mo Ye’s Poems and Insights]
Written by Aw Seow Pooi
Translated by Yap Hao Yang and Laura Jane Lee
Dated 28 Nov 2023
一、烽火中的回应
社会关怀到战争与和平是文学艺术的永恒主题，激发起诗人们以诗来强烈的回应现实的冲突，也往往引起读者的震撼。莫邪曾投生义工行列，亦全自费为女童教育及孤儿福利服务逾30年，活动遍及泰国柬埔寨中东南非各国等。这直接地影响了她对战争与赤贫地区的顾虑和关注。如果说现代诗歌是用意象描写不可言说之物，那莫邪笔下的描述便是人与物本身。
莫邪写的〈放生〉是她反战诗之一“人类以鲜血涂写／遗嘱／烽烟有腥味／令人窒息令人目盲／你不应诞生／如此年代／和土地，不允许生命延续／你为何诞生”（莫邪2006：4-5）放生主要体现对一切生命的维护或救护，此诗一开头就漫天充斥鲜血，生命规律本应不断繁衍，却因战争杀戮的缘故，导致诗人宁可这片土地没有人。既没开始就不必结束。接着说“放生你。在河上／任你哭声浮游啼声漂流的／是你的母亲。／因为／一块不幸的土地／是她的母亲／”、 “放生你。母亲为你／祈求诸神睁目／如神存在，如神果真存在／他们必遣使传说中的母狼／哺育你，赋你以伟大／且使你救活一切／且使你救活一切／自濒死而智而善”（莫邪2006：4-5）这样的“放生”看似抛弃的行为，实质上是为了保护生命让他有活下去的希望。此诗的“生” 与 “死” ，与本质相反；“生”视之为恶的循环，“死”倒顺应了正义，是一种抗争的强烈对比。诗人的视线超越了战火，她更注重人类的价值和良知。
诗人写的〈西岸〉（莫邪2006：44）不长，词汇不多诗句也不复杂。诗人写这首诗并不夹带强烈的控诉，而是通过某些细节和个人情感来回应。“但是战争不能结束战争／但是这场死亡，没有人／胜利”、“但是战争／不能结束战争……”诗人重复两节的句子，节奏与概念截然不同。第二节首句不分行的形式，是为了说明战争带来的死亡没有人胜利；最后一节分行的安排，预示了战争永远不会结束，简单的概念给读者烙下印象的深刻。
〈放生〉和〈西岸〉的诗风表达与叙述，也许与诗人投身义工的关系密不可分，对于关怀在战火和贫穷国土被牺牲的人民，诗人把体会在现实的状况投射到诗歌里，减低了在情感上的小我吟唱。尽管诗人挖掘了人类斗争的无知和残忍，然而未来尚存，她的诗中总有一种绝望中希望在后的渴望。如〈无风的暴雨〉“我不投降，强烈地渴望／这将是我一生中／最漂亮的一场／决战”（莫邪2006：41），〈放生〉“在这河中／你必不遭溺。亦不恨／不恨母亲的放生” （莫邪2006：4-5）等。诗人凭着对生活依然积极的渴望，在往后的日子里感恩于生命万物，以另种方式发声。
二、沧桑后的感悟
尽管诗人几乎看透生与死的边缘，她的诗作除了描写抗战争、赤贫与暴戾之外，也在某些诗作处理自她己内心世界与外在环境的差距。莫邪在其〈红尘更衣〉写：“然后我累了／脱下行游的足迹……／今后／我要静享这美丽的惩罚／醉里挑灯看剑／在现实眼底／我失去的是怎样的蹉跎呢／让他人去自由论价”。（莫邪2006：62）开端便是诗人坦言疲倦了，在人间历练后更发现人性的无力斗争。往昔奔波的岁月里，如今选择静下心待己。诗人对自己与世界有一种平静的渴望，但当这份安宁凑近的时候，却又心生少许错愕，冷嘲为“静享这美丽的惩罚”。接着，“如果别离与出发是命运刺配／我憔悴的脚步／将再度付托给新的孤独／／奔入永远的空间／无所寻求”。（莫邪2006：63）这也显露了诗人的孤独，但并非阴郁的沉重，更多的是另一种托付。她似乎在寻觅内心世界的某种宁静与自由，投影于纷扰以外的意境，所以最后才有了“甚至挥一挥手／也是多余的浪漫了。” （莫邪2006：63）
莫邪的〈中年照镜〉“雕栏玉砌应犹在／只是时光流走了时光流走／／这一具旧肉皮囊收积下来／汗俗层层尘垢厚厚怎么也洗不清了。再说／从头到脚／又有哪一点值得回首顾盼”。（莫邪2006：80）诗人借用了五代南唐李后主的《虞美人·春花秋月何时了》的“雕栏玉砌应犹在”来描绘景物依旧时光飞逝感叹自己步入中年，但没有自怨自艾，经历过的种种累积于身，终察觉人在世间里不足为道。接着，“岁月用皱纹静静地吞噬你／消灭你，无论／你迷信何种占星说／结果／都是一样”（莫邪2006：80）诗人理解死亡就是“闭眼死去”的道理，任何生命无法永恒。最后，“快／快吸一口氧气／活着真好／真好。莫问／酒醒何处……谁敢奉陪三百杯？／来来来”。（莫邪2006：81）不再年轻不等于失去，只是过去。诗人感恩活着，唯有活着才能继续体验与一窥生命百态的共相。
诗人把强烈感触的字句撒在足迹硝烟四起的战地到赤贫洪荒的土地，再缓缓地把生命放到生活中对自身与生死的体悟。莫邪把人生体验由大凝缩到小放入诗里，回归庸常的日子里，把孤独融入宁静且寻常微小的事物中，她亦能诗意盎然。
三、宁静下邂逅的意象
诗人远离了浮躁和喧哗的尘世背后，便是意象自由的写手。莫邪的〈茗〉“你便是我／我是茶”，“消煞／人间的俗／我便是你／你是茶”、“天地初开，已经／有你，已经有我／你我／的团聚／／浑圆而为茶／逐成诗成道成禅”（莫邪2015：8-9）借以茶与水的对话，相互结合“你我”来隐喻母族文化成就了不少隐士高僧才子佳人，也说明了诗人的先考以文学与茶培育了诗人。
莫邪也曾用动物，如鱼和蜻蜓入诗。如〈自由式〉“我是一尾鱼，在空中／浮沉／观望红尘里浓妆的人群／积极繁殖”、“海洋不适合我生存”、“ 饮茫茫的气体／我只有等待窒息／只有祈望／当我冷静地死在空中／仍然保持我自己／那旷世的／舞姿”。（莫邪2015：300-301）诗人把自己化为鱼但不生存于海洋，倒是愿在空中观望人群，揭示了她孤立在现实社会中。鱼离开了水终究会死亡，诗人奢望在不属于自己的空间里到生命的结束时，保存个人的独特姿态。看似现实的荒谬与矛盾，确是诗人真正的内心剖白。诗人曾说此诗是她一个人不求掌声的独唱，回音与共鸣，心之所安都很美好。
我们再看〈之所以邂逅一只红蜻蜓〉“最后一声告别／对晚霞轻轻说了，这时候／邂逅一只蜻蜓／便成了惊喜的尾声／／我要走了，哦你知道／我要走了吗”。 （莫邪2015：367）诗人在日落之前邂逅的蜻蜓，她离开之际与蜻蜓对话，因为过了也就后会无期。还有〈浪花是海〉“把一切潇潇洒洒／抛在脑后／就不再回头，一步／也不停留／我／是河流／归宿是海／／我是河流……／我是浪花／浪花／是海” 。（莫邪2021）这两首诗从遇见－告别－邂逅－离开，都仿佛诗人告别人世的心语。
从茶到鱼、蜻蜓，甚至浪花与海的隐喻，我们可以看见莫邪的创作思维方式与感觉倾向，她诗眉目淸楚，精干和简洁、没有晦涩和含糊其辞的展开抒写，感受极为真实。台湾著名诗人学者杨牧曾写：“若心念与身体竟然如一，从感觉出发便适足以扶摇直上，与精神撞击于缥缈缤纷而终于转为透明的世界，不须依附，逐自我完成为想像……”（杨牧2001：151-152）这是让读者与创作者理解现代诗的模式之一，正如：当我们如何想像，如何体会，我们便如何创作。
小结、
莫邪在亲历感受因烽火或天灾人祸而牺牲的百姓，看透人间生老病死后的沧桑独白后，再回归庸常日子寻找自己与自由。她的作品涉及自己历练中所闻所见的一切，她的文字与生命形成一种互文的创作，这样的形式内容复制了现实融合于诗，扩大了想象力的范围。在诗中，我们看不到风花雪月、伪浪漫与矫情，取而代之的是生活中那些我们熟视且无睹的事物。无论烽火硝烟至云淡风轻，诗人以简洁而有力的文字，传达出最深刻的人性。
参考资料（按作家姓名拼音排列）
莫邪。2006。《莫邪的相思树：莫邪诗选》，新加坡：亚太图书有限公司。
莫邪。2021年5月7日。〈浪花是海〉，《联合早报》（数码版），https://www.zaobao.com.sg/lifestyle/culture/story20210507-1144932 （见于2022年11月3日）
杨牧。2001。〈感官美学〉，杨牧《隐喻与实现》，台北：洪范书店有限公司，页151-152。
杨萱。2015。《红尘更衣》，新加坡：玲子传媒私人有限公。
1. Responses Amidst The Fumes of War
Social concern as to war and peace is a perennial theme of literature, inspiring poets to respond intensely to the realities of war with their words, and have often shaken readers to the core. Mo Ye devoted herself to social work and spent over 30 years serving the causes for girls’ education and orphan welfare in various parts of the world like Thailand, Cambodia, the Middle East, and South Africa, all at her own expense. This has directly influenced her concern for war-torn and poverty-stricken areas. If contemporary poetry uses imagery to describe the unspeakable, then the unspeakable in Mo Ye’s writing are people and things themselves.
Mo Ye’s <放生> [“Deliverance”] is one of her anti-war poems, illustrating primarily the preservation or salvation of all life:
人类以鲜血涂写
遗嘱。烽烟有腥味
令人窒息令人目盲
你不应诞生。如此年代
和土地，不允许生命延续
你为何诞生[Humans, we scrawl our history in
blood. The smoke flares reek,
Suffocating, blinding—
You should not have been born. In such times,
On such soil which halts life
Why were you even born?]
The poem begins with the skies soaked in blood. Though the fundamental law of life is procreation, the ongoing war and carnage cause the persona to wish that there were no humans on the land. After all, nothing has to die that does not first come into being. Subsequently, Mo Ye writes:
放生你。在河上
任你哭声浮游啼声漂流的
是你的母亲。因为
一块不幸的土地
是她的母亲[Be delivered. Along the river,
Your mother lets you float your tears
and drift your cries. Because
An unfortunate land
Mothered her]
and:
放生你。母亲为你
祈求诸神睁目
如神存在，如神果真存在
他们必遣使传说中的母狼
哺育你，赋你以伟大
且使你救活一切
自濒死而智而善[Be delivered. For you, Mother
Begged the gods to open their eyes.
If gods exist, if gods do exist,
They will send the she-wolf of legend
To nurse you, to make you great,
that you may save all things
from the brink of death to wisdom and goodness.]
While seemingly an act of abandonment, to “deliver” is in reality an attempt at protecting life and giving it hope for survival. In this poem, “life” and “death” take on each other’s qualities; “life” is seen as the perpetuation of evil, whereas “death” corresponds to justice, thus creating a strong contrast. The poet’s vision goes beyond the gunfire of war, paying attention, instead, to human values and conscience.
The poem <西岸> [“West Bank”] is not long. It draws from a simple vocabulary and its verses are uncomplicated. In writing this poem, the poet does not seek to deliver a fierce denouncement of war; instead, she chooses to respond to it with a focus on certain details and personal emotions.
但是战争不能结束战
但是这场死亡，没有人
胜利但是战争
不能结束战争……[But war cannot end war
But these deaths bear no
victors,But war
cannot end war…]
The sentence which the poet repeats twice changes dramatically in rhythm and meaning. In the first iteration, the choice not to break up the first line highlights the fact that nobody wins from the death of war; in the final iteration, the position of the line-break forebodes the never-ending cycle of war, a simple insight that is etched in the reader’s mind.
The style and expression of “Deliverance” and “West Bank” are perhaps tightly linked to the poet’s life of volunteerism; out of compassion for the civilians whose lives are lost to war or poverty, the poet writes reality as it was experienced in her poems, keeping sentimental self-indulgence to a minimum. Though Mo Ye uncovers the ignorance and cruelty behind human conflicts, the future still exists—in her poems, there is always a holding out of hope even in the depths of despair. For example, in <无风的暴雨> [“A Windless Storm”],
我不投降，强烈地渴望
这将是我一生中
最漂亮的一场
决战[I will not surrender, I long for it intensely
This shall be my life’s
finest
showdown]
and “Deliverance”,
在这河中
你必不遭溺。亦不恨
不恨母亲的放生[In this river
You shall not drown. Nor hate,
Nor hate your mother for delivering you.]
Still eager to live, the poet is thankful for all living things in the days to come and begins to voice herself differently.
2. Reflections After A Life of Vicissitudes
Although Mo Ye has practically trodden the length of the border between life and death, her poetry describes not just the struggle against war, abject poverty, and violence, but also (in some works) the disparity between her inner world and external circumstances. In <红尘更衣> [“Changing Mortal Garbs”], she writes:
然后我累了
脱下行游的足迹……
今后
我要静享这美丽的惩罚
醉里挑灯看剑
在现实眼底
我失去的是怎样的蹉跎呢
让他人去自由论价[And then I was tired
Erased my wandering footprints…
From today
I shall calmly enjoy this beautiful punishment
Returning to the sword under the influence, with lamp in hand
In reality
What time have I wasted
Let them evaluate as they please]
The poem opens with the poet’s confession of weariness, having come to terms with the helpless struggle so characteristic of human existence after going through the trials and tribulations of life— whereas she used to spend her days drifting from place to place, she now chooses to settle down. The poet harbours a longing for peace for herself and the world; yet when this peace approaches, she feels ever so slightly dismayed and refers to it sarcastically as “calmly enjoy[ing] this beautiful punishment”. Subsequently:
如果别离与出发是命运刺配
我憔悴的脚步
将再度付托给新的孤独奔入永远的空间
无所寻求[If farewell and departure are cursed upon us by fate
My haggard steps
will once again be entrusted to a new lonelinessRunning into an eternal space
Seeking nothing]
This reveals the poet’s loneliness, not a gloomy heaviness, but more of a kind of entrustment. She is seemingly searching for a semblance of tranquillity and freedom within herself, intending to project into a space safe from turmoil; thus, in the end, “even a wave of the hand / is unnecessary romance” (Mo, Mo Ye’s Acacia Tree, 2006).
In <中年照镜> [“Midlife Reflections”], Mo Ye writes:
雕栏玉砌应犹在
只是时光流走了时光流走这一具旧肉皮囊收积下来
汗俗层层尘垢厚厚怎么也洗不清了。再说
从头到脚
又有哪一点值得回首顾盼[The carved railings should still be there
Only time has ebbed away time ebbs awayHarvesting this body of flesh and skin
And the layers of sweat and dirt are too thick to be washed away
Besides
From head to toe
Is there anything to look back on?]
The poet borrows the line “The carved railings should still be there” from the Southern Tang Emperor Li Yu’s 《虞美人·春花秋月何时了》[The Beautiful Lady Yu, “When will the Spring Blossom and the Autumn Moon end?”] to contrast the permanence of the physical with the fleeting nature of time, and to lament her journey into her autumn years. However, she does so without self-pity; having accumulated a lifetime’s worth of experience, she eventually realises the inadequacy of human endeavours. Thus, she writes:
岁月用皱纹静静地吞噬你
消灭你，无论
你迷信何种占星说
结果
都是一样[The years swallow you silently with wrinkles
Destroying you; Regardless
of your astrological superstitions
the ending
is still the same]
The poet understands death as simply “closing one’s eyes and dying”, and that no life can last forever. Finally, Mo Ye writes:
快
快吸一口氧气
活着真好
真好。莫问
酒醒何处……谁敢奉陪三百杯?
来来来[Quick
Quick take a breath of oxygen
Life is good
So good. Ask not
Where you'll wake up after your drink…
Who dares to down three hundred cups?
Come come come]
As one ages, youth is not something lost, merely something left in the past. The poet is thankful to be alive, for it is only by being alive that she is allowed to continue experiencing and witnessing the vast spectrum of life.
Mo Ye scatters her emotionally intense verses across ravaged battlefields and barren lands, then slowly brings life into her insights regarding the relationship between the self and mortality. She condenses her lived experiences into her poems, returns to the every day, and incorporates loneliness into the quiet, ordinary, and little things; still, her poetry abounds.
3. Images Encountered in Tranquillity
After leaving behind the world of chaos and commotion, Mo Ye enjoys greater freedom in her choice of imagery. In <茗> [“Young Tea Leaves”],
你便是我
我是茶消煞
人间的俗
我便是你
你是茶天地初开，已经
有你，已经有我
你我
的团聚浑圆而为茶
逐成诗成道成禅[So are you me
And I teaPurging
the vulgarity of the world
So am I you
And you teaWhen the world first hatched,
there was already you
there was already me
Our
ReunionSo perfect that Tea
becomes Poetry becomes Enlightenment becomes Zen]
She uses the dialogue between tea and water and the intertwining of “you and me” to suggest that the Chinese heritage has produced numerous diverse talents, and also that the poets’ predecessors first cultivated their poetry with literature and tea.
Mo Ye also used animals, like fish and dragonflies in her poetry. For example, in <自由式> [“Freestyle”]:
我是一尾鱼
在空中
浮沉
观望红尘里浓妆的人群
积极繁殖海洋不适合我生存
饮茫茫的气体
我只有等待窒息
只有祈望
当我冷静地死在空中
仍然保持我自己
那旷世的
舞姿[I am a fish in the air
Drifting
Watching the mortal masses in heavy makeup
Procreate eagerlyThe ocean is not suitable for my survival
Drinking boundless gases
I only await suffocation
Only hope
When I die coolly in the air
I will still retain my very
especial
poise]
The poet transforms herself into a fish, but one that does not live in the sea. Instead, she would rather watch human beings from up in the sky, thereby suggesting her solitude in society. A fish that leaves the waters ultimately dies; nonetheless, the poet wishes to preserve her uniqueness until life’s end despite being in spaces that do not belong to her. What appears to be absurdity and contradiction, is the poet baring her heart with utmost sincerity. Mo Ye once described this poem as a solo performance that does not expect applause; the echoes and resonance, and the peace she feels within are all beautiful enough.
Looking further at <之所以邂逅一只红蜻蜓> [“Why I Encountered A Red Dragonfly”]:
最后一声告别
对晚霞轻轻说了，这时候
邂逅一只蜻蜓
便成了惊喜的尾声我要走了，哦你知道
我要走了吗[The last farewell
has been said, softly, to the evening sky; just then
I encountered a dragonfly
And thus a surprising endI have to go, oh do you know
I have to go]
Just before dusk, as she is about to depart, the poet encounters a dragonfly and converses with it, since there would be no opportunity to do so afterwards. And, in <浪花是海> [“The Waves Are The Sea”]:
把一切潇潇洒洒
抛在脑后
就不再回头，一步
也不停留
我
是河流
归宿是海我是河流……
我是浪花
浪花
是海[Leave it all with a flourish
behind you
Then no more looking back, not a moment
of hesitation
I
Am the river
My home is the seaI am the river…
I am the waves
The waves
Are the sea]
Repeating the pattern of encountering and parting, it is as if these poems are the poet’s farewell to the mortal realm.
From tea to fish, from dragonflies to ocean waves, Mo Ye’s metaphors give us insight into her creative thought and emotional inclinations; her poetry is clear and concise, devoid of obscure and ambiguous expression, and remarkable for its viscerality of feeling. The renowned Taiwanese poet-scholar Yang Mu wrote,
若心念与身体竟然如一，从感觉出发便适足以扶摇直上，与精神撞击于缥缈缤纷而终于转为透明的世界，不须依附，逐自我完成为想像……
[If the mind and body are indeed one, then simply feeling alone will allow one to ascend and collide with the spirit in bursts of colour, eventually turning the world transparent, renouncing any attachment, and actualising the self as a product of imagination…]
This is one of the ways readers and writers can understand contemporary poetry: just like how the way we imagine and the way we experience can become the way we write.
4. Conclusion
After having personally encountered human sacrifice in the face of war and natural disaster, and experienced the vicissitudes of human life, Mo Ye eventually returned to her everyday life to find herself and to find freedom. Her works are steeped in her personal experiences and observations, causing her words and life to come together in a kind of intertextual creation; such form and content recreate reality and are integrated into her poetry, thus expanding the boundaries of imagination. In her poetry, we do not see flirtation, false romance, or pretence; in their place are things in life that we are intimately familiar with yet also blind to. Be it war or peace, Mo Ye conveys a most profound humanity with words of vigour and simplicity.
Works cited
Mo, Ye. Mo Ye’s Acacia Tree. Singapore. Asiapac Books. 2006.
Mo, Ye. “The Waves are the Sea.” Lianhe Zaobao. 3 Nov 2021.
Yang Mu, “Sensory Aesthetics.” Metaphor and Realization. Taipei. Hongfan Bookstore Limited, 2001.
Yang, Xuan. Changing Mortal Garbs. Singapore. Lingzi Media. 2015.
