It was a Maine lobster town—

那是一个缅因龙虾[1]小镇——

each morning boatloads of hands

每天早晨整船整船的人手

pushed off for granite

启程去往岛屿上的

quarries on the islands,

花岗岩采石场，

and left dozens of bleak

留下数十栋凄凉的

white frame houses stuck

白色框架房

like oyster shells

像牡蛎壳一样

on a hill of rock,

卡在一座岩石山上，

and below us, the sea lapped

而在我们下方，海洋轻舔着

the raw little match-stick

那些粗制的小火柴棒

mazes of a weir,

一个拦鱼栅的重重迷宫，

where the fish for bait were trapped.

寻饵的鱼遭擒的所在。

Remember? We sat on a slab of rock.

记得吗？我们坐在一板岩石上。

>From this distance in time

因为这场时间里的舞蹈，

it seems the color

它的颜色仿佛是

of iris, rotting and turning purpler,

虹膜，在腐烂并越来越发紫，

but it was only

但那不过是

the usual gray rock

寻常的灰岩石

turning the usual green

正在变成寻常的绿色

when drenched by the sea.

在被海浸透的时候。

The sea drenched the rock

被海浸透的岩石

at our feet all day,

整天在我们脚下，

and kept tearing away

不停地崩散

flake after flake.

一片接一片。

One night you dreamed

有一夜你梦见

you were a mermaid clinging to a wharf-pile,

你是一条美人鱼紧贴着一根码头桩子，

and trying to pull

试图用你的手

off the barnacles with your hands.

扯下藤壶[2]。

We wished our two souls

我们曾希望我们的两个灵魂

might return like gulls

可以像鸥鸟一样返回

to the rock. In the end,

到岩石上。毕竟，

the water was too cold for us.

水对我们来说太冷了。

译注

[1] Maine lobster，即美洲螯龙虾。

[2] Barnacles，海洋甲壳类动物，成年期形成硬壳固着在水中的岩石或船底等表面上。