At 100 Mile House the cowboys ride in rolling

在“百里店” 那些牛仔在一个灰如

stagey cigarettes with one hand reining

石头的早晨骑马进来装腔作势地

half-tame bronco rebels on a morning grey as stone

转动雪茄一只手勒住半驯化的反叛的野马

— so much like riding dangerous women

——很像骑着有威士忌酒颜色似的

          with whiskey coloured eyes —

　　眼睛的危险女人——

such women as once fell dead with their lovers

就是那类曾经与她们的恋人一起跌死

with fire in their heads and slippery froth on thighs

头中有火大腿上有滑不唧溜的泡沫的女人

— Beaver or Carrier women maybe or

——也许是俄勒冈女人或卡里尔女人或

          Blackfoot squaws far past the edge of this valley

　越过这个峡谷尽头远在那两个小山脉的

on the other side of those two toy mountain ranges

另一面来自那边那个被太阳毒晒的平原的

          from the sunfierce plains beyond

　黑脚族印第安女人

But only horses

但是只有马

                  waiting in stables

　　　　　等在马厩里

hitched at taverns

拴在小旅馆

                  standing at dawn

　　　　　站在黎明中

pastured outside the town with

在城镇外吃草身旁到处是

jeeps and fords and chevys and

吉普车和福特牌车和雪佛莱牌车和

busy muttering stake trucks rushing

繁忙的低声嘟哝的卡车它们煞有介事地

importantly over roads of man’s devising

奔驰在人类设计的道路上

over the safe known roads of the ranchers

在大农场主和城里望族和商人

families and merchants of the town

那些以安全闻名的道路上

                  On the high prairie

　　　　　在高草原上

are only horse and rider

只有马和骑手

                  wind in dry grass

　　　　　干草中的风

clopping in silence under the toy mountains

在小山丘下的寂静中囊橐而行

dropping sometimes and

有时候拉下

                  lost in the dry grass

　　　　　金橙般的粪便

                  golden oranges of dung

　　　　　掉落在干草中

Only horses

只有马

         no stopwatch memories or palace ancestors

　　　没有秒表的回忆或宫廷祖先

not Kiangs hauling undressed stone in the Nile Valley

也没有蹇驴在尼罗河谷拖运赤裸的石头

and having stubborn Egyptian tantrums or

和发埃及人那种顽固的脾气或

Onagers racing thru Hither Asia and

野驴穿行于希瑟亚细亚以及

the last Quagga screaming in African highlands

最后的白氏斑马在非洲的高原上尖叫

         lost relatives of these

　　　　　　失去这些

         whose hooves were thunder

　　　　　　蹄声如雷的亲戚

the ghosts of horses battering thru the wind

马的鬼魂在风中猛烈穿行

whose names were the wind’s common usage

它们的名字是风的惯用语

whose life was the sun’s

它们的生命是太阳在

         arriving here at chilly noon

　　　　　　寒冷的正午抵达这里

         in the gasoline smell of the

　　　　　　在尘土散发的汽油味中

         dust and waiting 15 minutes

　　　　　　在这家食品杂货店等待

         at the grocer’s

　　　　　　十五分钟