是谁先发问的？

Who first asked it?

沙还是脚印，

The sand or the footprint,

回忆还是遗忘？

the remembering or the forgetting?

*

 *

A house, a door, an hour—

一栋房子，一扇门，一个时辰——

which is frame, which picture?

哪个是画框，哪个是画作？

 *

*

Where found, old grief-joy,

your salvage-yard windows and shutters,

在哪里找到的，往日的悲伤欢乐，

your emergency, your emergence?

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

我，你，我你，他们——

came first to feel it?

是什么

分子细胞的生物

 *

最先感受到的？

Was it painful?

*

 *

How came separation to chisel,

那感受，痛不痛？

to cherish, to chafe?

*

 *

Hammock of burning carbon

分离就是这么凿挖，

life wove from,

珍惜，蹭擦？

hammock life slept in,

unraveling—

*

did you find us useful,

燃烧的碳，织成吊床，

interesting,

生命也由它织成，

comic?

生命也休憩其中，

正在拆散——

 *

Will you miss them,

你有没有发现我们有用，

the cruelty and hunger,

有趣，

the manatees and spoonbills,

好笑？

awe’s inexplicable swaying?

*

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？