Brief bio sketch

Lloyd Haft (1946- ) was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin USA and lived as a boy in Wisconsin, Louisiana and Kansas. In 1968 he graduated from Harvard College and went to Leiden, The Netherlands for graduate study in Chinese (M. A. 1973, Ph. D. 1981). From 1973 to 2004 he taught Chinese language and literature, mostly poetry, at Leiden. His sinological publications include Pien Chih-lin: A Study in Modern Chinese Poetry (1983/2011; published in Chinese translation as 发现卞之琳: 一位西方学者的探索之旅 in 2010) and A Guide to Chinese Literature (with Wilt Idema, 1997). His liberal modern Dutch reading of Laozi's Daode jing was published as Lau-tze's vele wegen by Synthese in September 2017. His newest books in English are translations: Herman Gorter: Selected Poems (Arimei Books, 2021), Zhou Mengdie: 41 Poems (Azoth Books, 2022), and Totally White Room (Poems by Gerrit Kouwenaar, Holland Park Press, 2023). He has translated extensively into English from the Dutch of Herman Gorter, Gerrit Kouwenaar, and Willem Hussem, and from the Chinese of various poets including Lo Fu, Yang Lingye, Bian Zhilin and Zhou Mengdie.



Since the 1980s he has also been active as a poet writing in Dutch and English. He was awarded the Jan Campert Prize for his 1993 bilingual volume Atlantis and the Ida Gerhardt Prize for his 2003 Dutch free-verse readings of the Psalms (republished by Uitgeverij Vesuvius in 2011). His newest books of poetry in Dutch are Intocht (Introit) and Beluisteringen (Soundings), published by Uitgeverij Van Warven in November 2023.



After early retirement in 2004, for a number of years Lloyd Haft spent much of his time in Taiwan with his wife Katie Su. In June 2019 he was named a Distinguished Alumnus of National Taiwan Normal University. In addition to writing and translating, his interests include Song-dynasty philosophy and tai chi. For many years he sang in the choir of a Roman Catholic church of the Eastern Rite in The Hague.



Monday, February 7, 2011

太極拳雜詩八首

漢樂逸   蘇桂枝

(1) 白鶴亮翅

問我的身體如何變成鳥:
高高的
在大地中自由騰翔

我雙唇緊閉
吸進大鶴飛躍過的空氣
我骨頭轉晃

左右跟進,
招呼著眼前所有的樹
一顆跳動的心無言的心眼迸放

一股開放自由的風
九重天乍現
在我處,激求渴望

不是我出去:是風進來
在我從未預料的地方尋我
混沌初開前  空曠



(2) 合太極

推回分離我之處
難道有一地方
會是
孤獨自顏

部分是我
另一為何
闢開石頭
睜開眼:

其下仍是我
所謂我的手
無非亦是柔弱張開
如常的表現

一體雙面從不遠離,
雖道是手中無鑿子
未予這漸近的光
刻名於石岩

勿以為
我無知。
此時此處正聽著
風與我的無言

同音



(3) 抱虎歸山 之二

難道我正
返歸峭壁山崖
像個曾經的我
堅實站立

輕如風的雙手
像張開的葉子
觸摸著膝蓋
輕拂岩石

穩固旋轉。
那發光
在前面照明我途的
越來越靠

寬闊
一如峽谷的無端
不停的
逼近

我稱呼它為
僅為了有個音
拋射我的聲調猶如
投石入無盡頭的池塘般

光圈環繞著我




(4) 抱虎歸山之

孰知如何撐起
萬物間
自體之中
的心肝

匍匐生活裏
這日光之凶煞者
若非我企望
此地於牠孤單

牠看:我觀,我需
無論何地
碰觸則轉
隨遇而戰




(5) 進步栽捶

我試著握個拳頭
卻僅是皮層
空心藏著的嫩樹
展延

隨風而來
穿越我
和我的一切,自由
往前

更寬更充滿陽光。
感受它之高超
我沉穩,入
膝間

終究知道我安在
茂葉中,
鬆柔暢旺,蔭成
穹氈




(6) 右掤 

這是我僅有的盾:
端似雙手圓圈
對半心前,捕捉陽光,
等待

無為無往
穩住:
在大地之上, 
等待

宇宙與我同在
鳥群暢鳴、叢林狂嗖,
集體如一,
等待

我伺機造形
極寬:予白日躍進
以現萬物之心,
等待



(7) 上步七星

我放下右手的那一刻
上空  霎那間
展開

星星閃爍照著我的身
左手  抬舉前
觀來

接近一顆堅強與能耐
我心  更熟練
了懷

(知道的話就會等待?
星辰  無需言
亮態

它們來到而且是多到
七層  滿個天
溢彩

星期每日我予以命名
銀光  隨我緣
對待)

輕盈如上升的星星
右腳  跨地面
緊挨




(8) 退步跨虎

回轉, 回到
他們命我名之前
所騎虎

牠好, 在統獨趨速行走前
多次載我
康莊途

回到老虎
非經高地,亦不是
低窪都

是淺顯可見丟棄物,
跳脫時間,諦觀我
轉向處

再張開拳頭
我領受日光始終
溫如晤

我垂下
比虎爪還柔的腳
側旁路

不需造勢
亦不暖邊道砂石。與它
似當初

存在