红韵（本名陈红韵，另一笔名为寄北）江西临川人。毕业于上海第二军医大学（MD）和加拿大新布朗威克大学（PhD）。她于1981年开始写作，其散文、诗歌、和短篇小说散见于中英文媒体和数十本选集里；专辑有《你知道怎么爱吗？》等；数篇作品在北美获奖。她于1991年开始做中译英或英译中的翻译，翻译作品包括《贫民窟的百万富翁》、《中国情怀》等；2021年获法拉盛诗歌节翻译佳作奖。
威尼斯：水替街道缓慢呼吸
中文及英译 / 红韵
双语诵读/花仙子
水：替街道缓慢呼吸，
替石头剥落自己的年龄，
替黄昏搬运一船碎金。
里亚托桥——
一头白鲸的脊椎拱出运河，
阳光卡在拱券的骨缝里，
像几个世纪还没咳出的铁钉。
楼房半截溺毙，
半截晾着粉红、赭黄、灰白——
潮汐把墙皮翻成卷边的乐谱，
每一页都压着咸涩的指痕。
窄水巷突然收紧了喉咙。
倒影里，天空被折成一把尺子，
夹在百叶窗之间，
那蓝迟迟不肯发光。
它等一个过路人把心跳
掉进水里，溅起一尾寂静。
圣马可广场，
光像熔化的拜占庭金币
浇在穹顶。
鸽子的翅膀把时间剪碎，
又让它自己
落回钟楼的阴影。
天文钟用黄道十二宫的锈齿轮
碾磨星辰——牡羊与天秤缓慢交媾，
帝国的骸骨已成细沙，
它不低头。
我转身，威尼斯从背后咬住我的影子——
它浸在咸涩里的窗台，
竟开出一排火苗，
灼得那么笃定。
🔘Venice: Water Breathing Slowly in Place of the Streets
By Hongyun
Water: breathing slowly for the streets,
stripping the stones of their own age,
ferrying a boatload of shattered gold for dusk.
Rialto Bridge—
the spine of a white whale arched out of the canal,
sunlight jammed in the bone-cracks of its vaults
like iron nails that centuries have yet to cough up.
Half-submerged, half hung out to dry
in pink, ochre, and ash-white—
the tide turns the peeling walls into curled sheet music,
every page pressed with salty fingerprints.
A narrow waterway suddenly tightens its throat.
In the reflection, the sky is folded into a ruler,
wedged between shutters.
That blue lingers, refusing to glow.
It waits for a passerby to drop
a heartbeat into the water,
splashing up a tail of silence.
In St. Mark’s Square, light like molten Byzantine coins
is poured over the domes.
Pigeon wings shred time into pieces,
then let it fall back into the bell tower’s shadow.
The astronomical clock grinds the stars
with the rusted zodiac gears—
Aries and Libra slowly coupling,
while the empire’s skeleton has long turned to fine sand.
It does not bow its head.
I turn around,
and Venice bites down on my shadow from behind—
its windowsills soaked in brine
suddenly bloom into rows of flame,
burning with such absolute conviction.
