In “Music Script,” Fung Ming Chip integrates the rhythmic language of musical notation into shufa. The symbols for notes and rests have been folded into characters, disrupting the standard reading of characters as text and injecting a second rhythm into his poetry. For example, “Departure” describes Fung’s view from his airplane window on a night flight. In the line “the irregular patches of white are snow,” the character 白 (white) has been widened, and one interior stroke has been thickened to form the notation for a half rest, drawing out the word and giving the impression of unending sheets of clouds extending beneath the airplane.

出發

三萬六千尺⾼空

機翼穩定地反映太陰的圓滿

星⽃在墨藍的穹蒼

不為⽉華所動

⿊⾊的是⼤地

在起伏中緩慢飄流

不規則分佈的⽩是雪

沉默安寧天地之間

是抹看不透的紗

點點閃爍的橙

是⼈間

無盡的是空間

寡情的是時間

Departure

Thirty six thousand feet high

Full moon’s reflection stable on the wing

Dark blue sky holds constellations

Protected from the moon

black is the land

Slowly swept away in undulation

white is the snow in irregular patches

Quiet stable horizon

Provide a mysterious mesh

Orange’s flickering spot

Is terrestrial

Endless is the space

Heartless is the time