Lie down, you are horizontal.

躺下，你是水平的。

Stand up, you are not.

站起，你就不是。

I wanted my fate to be human.

我想要我的命有人性。

Like a perfume

如香水，

that does not choose the direction it travels,

不选择它散发的方向，

that cannot be straight or crooked, kept out or kept.

不能直、不能弯，挡不开、留不住。

Yes, No, Or

是、否、或者，

—a day, a life, slips through them,

——一天，一生，从它们中滑过，

taking off the third skin,

蜕第三层皮，

taking off the fourth.

蜕第四层。

The logic of shoes becomes at last simple,

鞋的逻辑终于简单，

an animal question, scuffing.

动物的问题，趿拉着。

Old shoes, old roads—

旧鞋子，老路——

the questions keep being new ones.

疑问总变成新的。

Like two negative numbers multiplied by rain

像两个负数乘以雨，

into oranges and olives.

变成橘子和橄榄。