– written after a visit to the Panda Propagation Center in Chengdu
In Mother Nature’s gallery when I walk down a corridor of colors
I am dazzled to see white and black appearing on a single creature.
The zebra’s coat has stripes of black and white in alternation;
As for the orca, its white belly is set off from its ebony back
To manifest a streamlined yin-yang symbol, or a racing design.
Is there a message I’m missing, or am I just perplexed?
Because I know, for sure, something strange is going on.
The white coat of the snow leopard has rosettes of black,
Not spots, because white hairs divide the black petals,
And black hairs pepper its white coat, but do not gray it.
The panda is flopsical-mopsical; its big white head is marked
By black eye patches, in which its eyes are a bit off center,
And its black limbs are hitched like trousers to a white torso.
The orca lives in the sea; the zebra on the savanna;
The panda in forests; and the snow leopard in mountains:
A whale, a big cat, an ungulate, and a throwback bear:
Their phyla and habitats are as different as can be.
With stripes, dapples, contours or whimsical color blocs,
Taken together, they show a lovely range of styles
In their ways of combining the two elemental colors.
Is there a message I’m missing, or am I just perplexed?
Because I know, for sure, something strange is going on.
………….
Thanks to Mr. Wang Hao for translating this into Chinese.
黑白两色的动物
—访成都熊猫培育所有感
梅丹理
在大自然母亲的展馆里沿一条色彩的走廊前行
我惊讶地看到黑白两色在同一只动物身 上呈现。
斑马的外衣上有交替的黑白条纹;
虎鲸洁白的肚腹与乌黑的脊背泾渭分明,
宛如一个线条流畅的太极图,或是某种赛跑的图案。
我是否错过了某个信息,又或只是心生迷惘?
因为我知道肯定有离奇的事情在发生。
雪豹的白外套上印着黑玫瑰花朵
而不是黑 斑- -黑花瓣镶着细细的白边
而白海中洒着黑毛,但没沾染出一片灰色。
熊猫呆楞又憨重,白色的脑袋上敷着两片
没贴得很正的黑色的眼贴,
黑色的肢体像是白色的身躯上套着四只裤腿。
虎鲸游弋在海中,斑 马奔跑于草原,
熊猫蹒跚在丛林,雪豹浪迹于群山:
一条巨鲸,一只大猫,一只是有蹄动物, 一只熊的老祖,
它们的种属和居所实在天差地别。
它们有各自的纹理、斑条、轮廓、随意的色 块,
它们将两种基色作各自不同的搭配
展现出各自可人的风格。
我是否错过了某个信 息,又或只是心生迷惘?
因为我知道肯定有离奇的事情在发生。
王浩 译
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