先哲们因时间而黯淡，如我们的记忆，龙蛇混杂、
Darkened by time, the masters, like our memories, mix
龃龉失和，
And mismatch,
终于偏安于我们的草坪，犹如空气
and settle about our lawn furniture, like air
丝毫无心，犹如空气带着清澄的虚空。
Without a meaning, like air in its clear nothingness.
对他们或记忆，我们能说什么？
What can we say to either of them?
为何这两者都会既幽暗而又澄明？
How can they be so dark and so clear at the same time?
他们翻弄我们的头发，
They ruffle our hair,
他们翻弄八月的树叶，
they ruffle the leaves of the August trees.
然后遽然住手，一如清风。
Then stop, abruptly as wind.
苍蝇飞回了，热浪也如此——
The flies come back, and the heat—
我们能说什么？
what can we say to them?
除了天空，没有无边无垠的事物。
Nothing is endless but the sky.
苍蝇飞回了，午后的时光
The flies come back, and the afternoon
在其绿色的边缘步履蹒跚，
Teeters a bit on its green edges,
然后以其自身的静负载
then settles like dead weight
偏安于我们的记忆之侧，偏安于贤哲长袍退色的下摆。
Next to our memories, and the pale hems of the masters' gowns.
*********
________
追寻上帝者将哭喊出他们的赞美。
Those who look for the Lord will cry out in praise of him.
也许。也许不会——
Perhaps. And perhaps not—
尽管我们是尘埃与灰烬，
dust and ashes though we are,
有人将会无言地离去，有人
Some will go wordlessly, some
将凭借他们的嘴一路聆听，
Will listen their way in with their mouths
而痛苦使他们悬浮于地面之上一寸半的高度。
Where pain puts them, an inch-and-a-half above the floor.
还有人则会咒骂，出于爱
And some will revile him out of love
出于深深的鄙夷。
and deep disdain.
仁慈的门户，犹如月蚀，阴暗了我们的下腹。
The gates of mercy, like an eclipse, darken our undersides.
一排排墓碑粘着我们的步履，
Rows of gravestones stay our steps,
八月的湿气
August humidity
闪亮如光晕围绕我们的身体。
Bright as auras around our bodies.
还有人将从牙缝中挤出一些字句，
And some will utter the words,
带着恐惧，舌头打转，
speaking in fear and tongues,
嫌恶自己的衣服被玷污了肉体的斑痕。
Hating their garments splotched by the flesh.
这都是些幸运儿，免除了义务，名字被二度抹除。
These are the lucky ones, the shelved ones, the twice-erased.
***********
________
但丁和科里索斯托姆
Dante and John Chrysostom
也许能为这个下午找到一张恒星标注的地图，
Might find this afternoon a sidereal roadmap,
朝觐之途……
A pilgrim's way ...
你也有这种可能，
You might too
当这如钩的弦月还没有泛出黄疸的轮廓时，
Under the prejaundiced outline of the quarter moon,
当云朵划着双桨滑向天际，犹如叙述着
Clouds sculling downsky like a narrative for whatever comes,
那仍未发生、但已在星星背后若隐若现、
What hasn't happened to happen yet
所以势必发生的未来，
Still lurking behind the stars,
此时是1995年8月最后一天……
31 August 1995 ...
虫豸的来生、太空的涂鸦、风景上的
The afterlife of insects, space graffiti, white holes
白色洞穴，
In the landscape,
这些事物、这些通衢，都引向尘土，
such things, such avenues, lead to dust
它们处理起伤害也轻而易举。
And handle our hurt with ease.
天之蓝、蓝得无边无际，大地之上的
Sky blue, blue of infinity, blue
蓝色水域：
waters above the earth:
为何伟大的传说永远存在于过去？
Why do the great stories always exist in the past?
**********
________
人生，未经审视与反复审察，
The unexamined life's no different from
绝无任何差异——
the examined life—
无法回答的问题、琐碎的谈话、
Unanswerable questions, small talk,
不可证明的定理、搁置已久的争论——
Unprovable theorems, long-abandoned arguments—
你应将它们一一写下。
You've got to write it all down.
无论陆地景致还是水上风光、常青树上的光照面积、
Landscape or waterscape, light-length on evergreen, dark sidebar
或者黑夜里的庭外媾和，
Of evening,
你应将它们一一纪录。
you've got to write it down.
记忆的手绢、死亡的梦与汽车、
Memory's handkerchief, death's dream and automobile,
上帝的沉睡，
God's sleep,
你应将它们一一记述，
you've still got to write it down,
正午有一半属于空无、月亮只是半圆，
Moon half-empty, moon half-full,
黑夜没有星星也没有自我、黑夜有黑色的血液与黑色的祈祷，
Night starless and egoless, night blood-black and prayer-black,
蜘蛛在灌木篱笆之间忙碌、
Spider at work between the hedges,
最后一声鸟鸣、
Last bird call,
蟾蜍在潮湿的地方、树蛙在干燥的……
toad in a damp place, tree frog in a dry ...
**************
________
我们走向坟墓，带着情感这身外之物、
We go to our graves with secondary affections,
二手的满足、朝三暮四、
Second-hand satisfaction, half-souled,
星座图已被消磁。
star charts demagnetized.
我们身穿最标致的套装离去。鸟在飞。云在飘。
We go in our best suits. The birds are flying. Clouds pass.
当然，我们冷冰冰的、不可触摸，
Sure we're cold and untouchable,
但是我们并无恶意。
but we harbor no ill will.
没有牙齿会习惯于憎恶的餐叉，
No tooth tuned to resentment's fork,
我们身在别处，而肉味甘美。
we're out of here, and sweet meat.
书法家表现着无形体的对象、上帝照看着词语的病房、
Calligraphers of the disembodied, God's word-wards,
我们会照亮什么字母令它们豁然开朗？
What letters will we illuminate?
在我们上方，虚无的大气
Above us, the atmosphere,
不在任何地方，它开始招徕我们，等待我们回头拜访。
The nothing that's nowhere, signs on, and waits for our beck and call.
在我们上方，巨大的星群侧身潜行、战战兢兢，
Above us, the great constellations sidle and wince,
一个个字母从黑暗中显露出来，呈现
The letters undarken and come forth,
你的前生、我的前世。
Your X and my X.
一个个字母退去黑暗，显露出来。
The letters undarken and they come forth.
**********
________
记忆纠缠不到的人、温室的夜眠、
Eluders of memory, nocturnal sleep of the greenhouse,
滑音与静寂的精灵，
Spirit of slides and silences,
无形之手啊，
Invisible Hand,
你见证又继续前行。
Witness and walk on.
诸神啊，你们前言不搭后语、细微的手势难以分辨，
Lords of the discontinuous, lords of the little gestures,
请将我脱离此生、令我得救……
Succor my shift and save me ...
整个下午，雨一直像雨一样在我心中滂沱，
All afternoon the rain has rained down in the mind,
也瓢泼于果园与矮树林。
And in the gardens and dwarf orchard.
整个下午，
All afternoon
残夏的词汇表在大雨纷飞中
The lexicon of late summer has turned its pages
翻转着页码，
Under the rain,
抽取不可或缺的字词。
abstracting the necessary word.
秋天降临我们了。
Autumn's upon us.
雨水注满我们狭窄的床铺，
The rain fills our narrow beds.
描述犹如空气与水，也是一个元素。
Description's an element, like air or water.
就这个词罢。
That's the word.