太糟糕他从未试过它——

Too bad he never tried it—

他或许会喜欢上它:

he might have liked it.

她看见我们目光接触，

She saw us make eye contact.

那天就那样了。

And that was that for that day.

太糟糕他也，当我

Too bad he too, when I

正在

am

表示如果我来了就

meaning if I came along it’d

已经太晚了。

already be too late.

那些天鹅中的一些在聚集。

Some of the swans are swarming.

春天已经沉没——它不

The spring has gone under—it wasn’t

应该如此。

supposed to be like this.

现在他们看着他，畏葸不前。

Now they watch him and cringe.

他们是谁？他是谁？

Who are they?  Who is he?

我们决定乘坐华人航空。

We decided to fly Chinese.

餐食不是那么好。

The food wasn’t that good.

啊，埃尔文，我是否告诉过你

And oh Erwin did I tell you

那个男人——就是那个——我

that man—the one—I didn’t

不知道自己应不应该。

know if I was supposed to or not.

他无精打采地爬回来，

He crawled back listlessly,

抱着一串红伶。

holding a bunch of divas.

把这些弄出去是费劲的差事，

It’s hard work getting these out,

但任何你有权做的事情都如此：

but so’s any thing you’re entitled to do:

要上的课。

classes to attend.

学校的上午。

The morning of school.

傍晚快结束了，

Evening almost over,

他们违反安全规则。

they bend the security rules.

该再扔一颗雾弹了。

It’s time for another fog bomb.

瞧他们都在栖息的样子。

Lookit the way they all roost.

可怜的灵魂冲撞到一起

Poor souls clashed together

直到生根的屋顶几乎

until almost the root’s roof

把我们和自己的起源分开。

separates us from our beginning.

我们年轻时杀戮了许多巨人，

We slew many giants in our day,

烧毁了许多图书馆。

burned many libraries.

旋转木马，秋千。

Roundabouts, swings,

对我们不过是运气。

it was all one piece of luck to us.

现在我们没戏了，天开始冷了。

Now we’re washed up it’s almost cold.

还没糟糕到要起身抵抗。

Not bad enough to put up a stand.

出于那个渴望我们写了一首赞歌。

Out of that longing we built a paean.

现在跨过这座桥的人都更智慧。

Now everyone who crosses this bridge is wiser.

它没有倾斜多少。

It doesn’t tilt much.

看，海岸正从侧面抵达。

Look, the shore is arriving laterally.

一些人确实认为他们见多识广，

Some people literally think they know a lot,

给他们惹上麻烦，我们必须搜寻

gets 'em in trouble, we must rake out

咖啡馆，找耗子和爆炸的幼崽。

cafés looking for rats and exploded babies.

上周喝大了。

There was one too many last week.

我不知道你是否在编码。

I don’t know if you’re coding.

警察用一条披肩让我们

The cop pulled us over

靠边停车。你为什么想绕开我，

in a shawl.  Why do you want to go around me

当还可以得到其它

when there are other circulars

为打扮发的传单？

to be had for the looking?

我从未想到过会被永远禁足。

I never thought about being grounded forever.

这是小姐。脱下你的帽子。

This is Mademoiselle.  Take your hat off.

没必要，上星期四我来过这儿。

There’s no need, I was here last Thursday.

所有最好的生物都因为他们的痛苦

All the best creatures are thwarted

受到挫败。他熟练地给我解开锁链，

for their pains.  He removed my chains deftly,

用黏糊糊的东西处理了我的护照。

processed my passport with gunk.

现在，五只雁两次飞过

Now two times five geese fly across

那弯新月，是时候实事

the crescent moon, it is time to get down to

求是了，在这小公园里。

facts, in the tiny park.

有牧师拿着修女的姿势，

There were priests posing as nuns,

榅桲之类的。

quinces and stuff.

把我再朝太阳偏一点，

Tilt me a little more to the sun,

我想最后看它一眼。那儿，

I want to see it one last time.  There,

那就对了。我看见它了。

that’s just fine.  I’ve seen it.

你可以推我进屋里。乘着什么摄动的翅膀？

You can roll me inside.  On wings of what perturbation?

他来喝薄荷酒。

He came in last week too.

他转眼不见了。

Said he knew you or somebody else.

我们哭得太多了

It’s the pain just of replying

为淹死的狗。

that makes so many of them take up different lines.

他上周也来过了。

Too many goods—we are spoiled indeed.

说他认识你或其他人。

Had we learned to subsist on less

仅仅答复的痛苦

the changing of the world might be different,

让他们这么多人选择不同的队列。

earth come to greet us.  I say, the chairs have grown back.

太多的商品——我们确实被惯坏了。

The couple sat in the dish drainer

倘若我们学用减法去生活

pondering an uncertain future.

世界的变化也许会不同，

The kitchen had never looked bleaker

大地来迎接我们。我说，椅子逆生长。

except for two chinchillas near the stove, a beaker

夫妻坐在碗碟架里

of mulled claret, shaving soap smelling

沉思着不确定的未来。

so fresh and new, like smoke, almost.

厨房从未显得如此黯淡无光，

He says leave it here,

除了炉子旁的两只毛丝鼠，一烧杯

that he comes here.

热红酒，剃须皂闻上去

OK harness the DeSoto,

如此清新，像烟，差不多。

we’ll have other plans

他说把它留在这儿，

for newness, for a renewing, kind of—

说他来这儿。

picnics in the individual cells

好吧，驾驭德索托，

so no one falls asleep for it, dreams

我们会有其它的计划，

she is a viola, instrument of care, of sorts.

为新奇，为一次更新，稍微有点——

You should have seen when we got back.

单间牢房里的野餐，

He was absolutely wild.  Hadn’t wanted us to go

所以没人会因此睡着，梦见

to the picture show.  But in a way it was all over,

她是中提琴，关爱的乐器，勉强算是。

we were back, the harm had been done.

我们回来时，你应该见过他。

Gradually he came to realize this

他绝对狂野。没有想要我们去

over a period of many years, spanning

看电影。但在某种意义上，它结束了，

two world wars and a major depression.

我们回来了，伤害已经造成。

After that it was time to get up and go,

渐渐地，他开始意识到这个，

but who had the get up and go?  A child’s

用了许多年，跨越

party, painted paper hats, bowlfuls of lemonade,

两次世界大战和一次大萧条。

no more at the lemonade stand, it sold out.

那以后，到了起身离开的时间，

That was cheerful.  A man came right up behind you,

但是谁有过这起身离开？一个孩子的

he had two tickets to the door.

聚会，彩绘纸帽子，在柠檬汽水摊位上

We need starve no more

不再有满碗的柠檬汽水，它已售罄。

but religion is elastic too—

真是令人愉悦。一个男人紧跟在你后面，

might want some at some future date—

他有两张到门口的票。

if so you’ll find it here.

我们不需要再挨饿了

We have to hurry in now,

但宗教也是有弹性的——

hurry away, it’s the same thing

也许在未来某个日子想要一些——

she said as rain came and stole the king.

要是这样，你会在这里找到它。

我们现在必须赶快进去，

赶快离开，这是一回事，

她说，如同雨来了，偷走国王。