诗歌是一种货币

Poetry is a kind of money

它的价值取决于储量。

whose value depends upon reserves.

不是写在纸上的东西

It’s not the paper it’s written on

或它自己标示的面额，

or its self-announced denomination,

而是金块——从大地的汗水中炼出

but the bullion, sweated from the earth

却被隐藏——保持了它的价值。

and hidden, which preserves its worth.

无人知晓这是如何运作，

Nobody knows how this works,

为何它能运作？为什么有些东西

and how can it? Why does something

堆放在某个银行密室或保险柜，

stacked in some secret bank or cabinet,

或某个守财奴的宝库，远离人世，闪闪发光

some miser’s trove, far back, lambent,

并被它的石偶津津有味地炫耀，却让我们

and gloated over by its golem, make us

如此认真地相信交易的存在，

so solemnly convinced of the transaction

在曼德尔施塔姆说黄金（爱）时，即使

when Mandelstam says love, even

那只是翻译？

in translation?