When the Cat Is Away, We Walk by Each Other’s Lake | Museum-Quality Art Print

The cat has left.
The door—
tightly locked.
We gather around this narrow space
as if to invent
a secret holiday.
No need to recall—
souls cold and crawling
on summer riverbeds,
phosphorescent as insect eggs,
leading to some vast forest,
a theater-shaped burrow.
Leave it. Leave it—
Mist slips down the rain road.
The dim glow at the back of a car
is the only lighthouse
to witness the death of time.
Our oars creak—
echoing
invisible ether waves.
Is it only our rusted hearts
that move in such mechanics?
The cat has left.
The door remains closed.
Even the moon
cannot come in.
Within this small and sorrowful holiday
let’s kiss—
half-hearted, uneven—
to confirm
we still exist.
Even if
no prophecy of our immortality
has ever
come true.
The world’s shadow-hand
pinches the curtain’s edge.
You—lashes dusted—
listen
to the slow, soundless sob
from the asteroid belt:
"No one pities you,
O sorrowful saint."
It was only with a wrinkled heart
turning to you
that I came to know
the gentle brilliance
of a creature called cat.
Night falls colder.
The hearth dims.
You smile at me,
softly—
but your heart
is already full
of the cat’s remains.

猫出去了
而房门锁得紧紧的
我们团聚在狭小空间的四周
便以构造圣秘的节日
不去回想：
夏季河床上匍匐着的冰冷魂魄
如磷反光的昆虫之卵
通往一座盛大森林，剧场般的地洞
就此打住，就此打住——
雨路中雾行
车尾的黯淡微光成为唯一见证时间死去的灯塔
我们的船桨则吱呀作响
随无形的以太波动着的
难道仅有你我机械般锈蚀的心吗
猫出去了
而房门锁得紧紧的
连月亮也无法进来
在这样小小又令人忧伤的节日中央
有一搭没一搭地吻吧
借此，互相确认彼此的存在
即便关于我们永生的预言
历代万朝都未曾成立一次
世界的阴面
轻捏着窗帘一隅，睫毛粘上灰尘的你——
小行星带中，传来缓慢而无声的呜咽
「偏偏无人垂怜」
「你这哀愁的圣女」
以一种皱褶的心
看向你的时候，我才知晓了
猫这种生物的良妙之处
夜已渐冷
炉中的火也熄了
你那样柔和地对我轻轻笑着
我却不知道
你的心中已满是猫的尸骸