Who first asked it?

是谁先发问的？

The sand or the footprint,

沙还是脚印，

the remembering or the forgetting?

回忆还是遗忘？

 *

*

A house, a door, an hour—

which is frame, which picture?

一栋房子，一扇门，一个时辰——

哪个是画框，哪个是画作？

 *

Where found, old grief-joy,

*

your salvage-yard windows and shutters,

your emergency, your emergence?

在哪里找到的，往日的悲伤欢乐，

你弃物场的窗户和护窗，

 *

你紧急的事件，你实践的进击？

Me, you / us, them—

What

*

molecule cell creature

came first to feel it?

我，你，我你，他们——

是什么

 *

分子细胞的生物

Was it painful?

最先感受到的？

 *

*

How came separation to chisel,

to cherish, to chafe?

那感受，痛不痛？

 *

*

Hammock of burning carbon

life wove from,

分离就是这么凿挖，

hammock life slept in,

珍惜，蹭擦？

unraveling—

*

did you find us useful,

interesting,

燃烧的碳，织成吊床，

comic?

生命也由它织成，

生命也休憩其中，

 *

正在拆散——

Will you miss them,

the cruelty and hunger,

你有没有发现我们有用，

the manatees and spoonbills,

有趣，

awe’s inexplicable swaying?

好笑？

*

你会怀念它们吗，

那残忍与饥饿，

那些海牛与琵鹭，

敬畏难以解说的影响？