(Text in Cantonese, Catalan and Italian)

那天夜晚，
我哋喺灘边
Eravamo sul fiume quella notte
上百
上千
人
aquella nit
我哋都喺嗰度
等着
a la vora del riu
某件事發生

----
(we were by the river that night
us two and hundreds
of thousands
of other people
and we were all there
waiting
for something to happen)
----

era soffocante
l’assenza di spazio,
il contatto di vestiti
il sudore e la pelle di sconosciuti che spingevano attraverso la folla
polizia militare ad ogni angolo
sense parpellejar
senza battere ciglio
montagne di gente
oceani di gente
人海
come si suol dire
正如佢哋所講

----
(it was suffocating:
the lack of space
the touch of textile
the sweat and skin of strangers pushing through the crowd
military police in every corner
not blinking a single time
people-mountain
people-sea
as they say)
----

al nostre costat
edificis art deco
a l’altre costat
摩天大樓
gratacels
en mig, el riu
una frontera
o una frontissa
o un ponte tra il passato ed il futuro
entre el passat
i el futur

----
(on our side of the river:
art deco buildings
on the other side:
skyscrapers
the river in between:
either a border
or a bridge
between the past and the future)
----

“quina hora és?”
mires el mòbil
les onze i cincuanta-set

----
(“what time is it?”
You look at your phone
eleven fifty-seven)
----

后来
再醍唛时间
已经過咗1分鐘
ma niente è cambiato
但一切都某改變
centenars
上百
de milers,
上千
人
推過人群
試圖得到個好嘅視野
去醍嗰会发生嘅事

----
(the next time
that either of us checks the time again
it’s already 1 minute past
but nothing had changed
just hundreds,
of thousands,
of people
pushing through the crowd
trying to get a good view
of whatever that was supposed to be happening)
----

dos minuts més tard
i un grup sembla adonar-se
de que l’Any Nou fa ja tres minuts que ha arribat
així que treuen els mòbils
per a compartir-ho i celebrar-ho amb el món
come se stesse succedendo proprio lì
com si estigués passant
系囖
en aquell precís moment
边嗰知啧?
qui se’n podria adonar?
deu
十
dieci
nou
nove
九
vuit
otto
八
七
set
sette
...

----
(a couple minutes later a small group seems to realise
that the New Year had been with us for some good three minutes
so they take their phones out
to share and celebrate with the world
as if it were happening right then
how would anyone else know?
ten
nine
eight
seven
...)
----

sei
六
sis
mezzanotte e sei minuti
e qualche timido fascio di luce
da entrambi i lati del fiume
per un paio di minuti a seguire

----
(six
minutes past midnight
and a few lights flash timidly
on either sides of the river,
for the next couple minutes)
----

i...
això va ser tot

----
(and that was all there was)
----

失望
我哋返返酒店
路上同其他人一起
上百
上千
人
都意識到
che nient’altro sarebbe successo,
就係巩啦
嚒也都某
嚒也都，
唔会发生
係時候
返返去了
a allà d’on haguessin vingut
各自嘅归处

----
(disappointed
we go back to the hotel
around the same time as other
hundreds of thousands of people that also realised
that that was it
that there was nothing else to see
that nothing else was going to happen
and that it was time
to go back to wherever they came from)
----

uns dies després
vam veure el vídeo oficial
que les autoritats locals havien distribuït als canals de televisió internacionals
documentant
el que deien
que va passar aquella nit:
hi havia milers de drones sobrevolant el riu
fent formes i coses
facendo coreografie
un home caminant en mig de l’aire
i d'altres coses impressionants
de les quals ja ni m’enrecordo
发唔发生过
fins a quin punt és rellevant que fos realitat o ficció?
è importante se è successo veramente o no?

----
(a few days later
we saw the official video that the local authorities had distributed to TV networks around the world
documenting
what they said
happened that night:
there were thousands of drones flying over the river
making shapes and stuff
a man walking on air
and some other flashy things I already forgot about
does it make a difference whether it actually happened or not?)
----

當然
我哋唔係
唯一注意到的人
謠言開始流傳

----
(of course,
we were not
the only ones who noticed,
and rumours started circulating)
----

le autorità hanno risposto alle accuse
话
dicendo che i video
pregravat
fossero di una prova pre-registrata due giorni prima di capodanno
e che sarebbe dovuto essere così
預先錄製嘅
perchè non volevano rischiare
che centinaia di migliaia di persone
si sarebbero agitate
s’excitessin massa
e che sarebbe potuto succedere qualcosa di pericoloso
come già era successo durante gli ultimi minuti del 2014

----
(the authorities responded to those claims
saying that the video
was from a rehearsal prerecorded two days before New Year’s eve
and that it had to be that way
because they didn’t want to risk
that hundreds of thousands of people would get too excited
and something dangerous could happen
like it did during the last minutes of 2014)
----

但我有嗰疑问
如果視頻確實來自排練
点解會某人睇到？
在城市嗰中间
数百万人居住嘅地方
呢度
上百
hi passen cada dia
上千
人
每一日
来来往往
点做得到
某人知觉
攞出手機
分享上
社交媒體
condividendo sui social media o quant’altro

----
(I wonder though if the video was indeed from a rehearsal
how come this could go unnoticed
in the middle of a city where millions live
and where hundreds of thousands walk through that spot every single day
how could this be done without anyone noticing
and taking out their phones and sharing it on Social Media
or whatever)
----

ripensando a questo episodio
le centinaia di migliaia di sconosciuti
le deludenti luci di Capodanno
l’incredibile storia e tutto il resto
sembra lentamente scomparire dalla mia memoria
diventando una “storia” che racconterò ai miei amici
lasciando la gente interessata a cose
che più condivido e meno sento mie

----
(looking back at this whole episode
the hundreds of thousands of strangers
the underwhelming New Year light show
the incredible story and everything else
seem to slowly fade out from my memory
it became a “story” that I would tell my friends
getting other people’s interest in things
that the more I share, the less I feel mine)
----

el que encara recordo
és el que em vaig guardar per a mi
新年，
la teva mà,
悄無聲息地，
agafant-se a la meva
降臨到我哋身边
mentre l’Any Nou va arribar en silenci

----
(what I still remember
is what I kept to myself:
your hand
holding mine
as the New Year came silently upon us)