末日飞机

樊功生

戈壁的黄土

正午的阳光下

又干又硬

那架螺旋桨飞机

尘土里蹦了几下

停了下来

是架报废的军机

矿山捡了个便宜

用来拉货拉人

马达轰响时

座椅一起颤抖... 

最近的文明

也在几百里之外

这儿实在太苦

家都安在靠城那边

矿坑里连续干上三礼拜

回去轮休七天... 

城那边的土跑道尽头

挤满妇女和孩子们

闹闹嚷嚷

拖着的  背着的

还有喂奶的

同时吆喝着自己男人的名字

她们知道

不在这儿把钱讨到手

很快都送进了酒馆窑子... 

年复一年

就是这么过的

什么情怀 价值观？

或其它那些不中用的东西？

只有生存是个硬道理

世上的辛酸苦辣

来过这儿

都明白了... 

一阵气流再次冲来

飞机开始剧烈颤动

吱呀的噪声

像在撕扯  哀鸣

小小的窗洞外

一片漆黑, 如同关进了坟墓... 

对面的老哥

淡定得近乎呆滞

不时晃晃他的脏胡子：

-- 这老牙机早该砸了

   还在撑着

   来个更大的沙尘暴

   就都完了

   有一天  会的... 

难道这是最后一张面孔吗?

突然  它  在空中散了

分不清是金属片  还是人体

银色  红色

汽油味  血腥味  

只是热

充彻大气 

汹涌的沙尘暴

翻滚着...

像黑色的大口

瞬间吞噬了一切... 

好一场噩梦！

注：忆多年前访蒙古南戈壁。

Doomsday Flight 

By Ken Fan 

The yellow earth of the Goby, 

Dry and hard, 

Under a high noon. 

That propeller plane, 

Bumped a few times on the way, 

And came to a final stop. 

It's an abandoned military plane,  

picked up as a bargain by the mine,

Now used to transport cargo and workers. 

Once its motor starts, 

Seats tremble violently along. 

The nearest civic center

Would be hundreds miles away.

A harsh place to live, 

So all workers' families stay in a distant city. 

They work nonstop for three weeks, 

Then return to the city for one week break...

At the end of the airstrip by the city, 

stand all these women with their kids,

Loud and boisterous. 

Kids are dragged, carried, and

some are even being breastfed. 

As they shout their men's names. 

The women know perfectly well, 

That if they don't get money on the spot, 

It would all be squandered in the bars and whorehouses...

Year after year, 

Life rolls on as the same. 

What feelings? Values? 

And all other nonsenses?

Only survival matters. 

The human misery is on full display, 

As seen shockingly upon arrival...

A strong current hits again, 

The plane is shaking. 

The cracking sound resembles that of angry tearing and wailing.

Outside that tiny window hole, 

It's all darkness, like inside a grave. 

The old man sitting on the opposite side, 

Calm like a dumbbell. 

Shaking his dirty beards, and mumble :

"This piece of shit should've been junked a long time ago, 

But still dragged out flying. 

It would be all over, 

If comes a bigger storm! 

Some day, it will." 

Is this the last face to remember? 

Suddenly, it breaks apart in the air.

Can't tell if they're metals or body parts.

All different colors, silver, crimson... 

The unbearable heat,

Is permeating the space.

A fierce sandstorm,

Surging in furious turbulence ...

Like a dark ferocious mouth, 

That devours everything... 

What a horrible nightmare!

Note: from a trip to South gobi, Mongolia.