我们从偏远的省区出发
From narrow provinces
那里出产鱼，面包和茶
of fish and bread and tea,
漫长的潮汐之家，
home of the long tides
那里的海湾，离开大海
where the bay leaves the sea
每天两次，携着
twice a day and takes
鲱鱼，长途跋涉，
the herrings long rides,
那里的河流
where if the river
进驻或退却
enters or retreats
呈现棕色的泡沫之墙
in a wall of brown foam
取决于，它是否
depends on if it meets
遇见海湾刚刚返回
the bay coming in,
或者海湾刚刚离开；
the bay not at home;
那里的红色，污积着
where, silted red,
有时，太阳落下
sometimes the sun sets
面向红色的海洋，
facing a red sea,
有时，低地上的紫色
and others, veins the flats'
经络一般，燃烧的支流里
lavender, rich mud
浓稠的泥浆，翻滚着；
in burning rivulets;
穿过红色的碎石路，
on red, gravelly roads,
沿着成排的糖枫，
down rows of sugar maples,
经过木板农舍
past clapboard farmhouses
整洁的，木板教堂
and neat, clapboard churches,
它漂白的棱纹，一如蛤壳，
bleached, ridged as clamshells,
我们又经过孪生的银色白桦，
past twin silver birches,
整个傍晚
through late afternoon
我们的汽车向着西方，
a bus journeys west,
车窗闪耀的粉色
the windshield flashing pink,
从金属上弹回，
pink glancing off of metal,
摩挲凹陷的车身
brushing the dented flank
蓝色的瓷釉，久经风霜；
of blue, beat-up enamel;
下坡，再向上爬行，
down hollows, up rises,
耐心地等待，终于看到
and waits, patient, while
一个孤独的旅行者
a lone traveller gives
拥抱，吻别
kisses and embraces
他的七位亲人
to seven relatives
一只牧羊犬，在一旁注视着。
and a collie supervises.
再见了，榆树，
Goodbye to the elms,
再见了，农场，还有狗。
to the farm, to the dog.
汽车启动。更加丰富的
The bus starts. The light
暮光。薄雾
grows richer; the fog,
移动着，带着咸味
shifting, salty, thin,
四处侵入。
comes closing in.
它冰冷，圆形的晶体
Its cold, round crystals
生成，又滑落到
form and slide and settle
一只白色母鸡的羽翼，
in the white hens' feathers,
灰色光滑的卷心菜，
in gray glazed cabbages,
落在百叶蔷薇，羽扇豆上
on the cabbage roses
如十二使徒那样；
and lupins like apostles;
甜豆偎依着
the sweet peas cling
潮湿的白色豆荚
to their wet white string
紧贴着发白的篱笆；
on the whitewashed fences;
一片毛地黄里
bumblebees creep
大黄蜂，悄悄爬行，
inside the foxgloves,
黄昏，正在君临天下。
and evening commences.
巴斯河那站需要停靠。
One stop at Bass River.
之后是名为经济体的河流 --
Then the Economies
下游，中段，源头；
Lower, Middle, Upper;
被称为五岛，五户的地方，
Five Islands, Five Houses,
一个女人抖开桌布
where a woman shakes a tablecloth
在晚餐之后。
out after supper.
苍白的灯火扑闪，消亡。
A pale flickering. Gone.
这是坦特拉姆的沼泽
The Tantramar marshes
我们闻到咸味的干草之香。
and the smell of salt hay.
一座铁桥在哆嗦
An iron bridge trembles
一块松动的木板在咯咯作响
and a loose plank rattles
但是还没有坍塌。
but doesn't give way.
左侧，红色的灯火
On the left, a red light
正在横渡黑夜：
swims through the dark:
那是一条船的舷灯。
a ship's port lantern.
出现一双橡皮靴子
Two rubber boots show,
被灯光照亮，神色凝重。
illuminated, solemn.
传来狗的一声叫唤。
A dog gives one bark.
一个老妇人上车了
A woman climbs in
两个购物袋搭在肩膀，
with two market bags,
轻快的步伐，满脸的雀斑。
brisk, freckled, elderly.
"多好的晚上。是的，先生
"A grand night. Yes, sir,
一直坐到波士顿。"
all the way to Boston."
她朝我们友好地招呼着。
She regards us amicably.
现在，月亮莅降
Moonlight as we enter
我们进入新布纶斯维克的树林，
the New Brunswick woods,
毛绒绒的，粗糙的易碎品；
hairy, scratchy, splintery;
那月色，那薄雾
moonlight and mist
是羊羔的毛发
caught in them like lamb's wool
粘在草场的灌木上。
on bushes in a pasture.
乘客们已经躺下。
The passengers lie back.
鼾声响起，还有几声长叹。
Snores. Some long sighs.
梦中的我们，于今夜
A dreamy divagation
误入歧途，
begins in the night,
温和的幻觉
a gentle, auditory,
穿入耳际，缓缓流淌......
slow hallucination. . . .
吱吱呀呀的嘈杂中，
In the creakings and noises,
往事如烟
an old conversation
-- 与我们无关，
--not concerning us,
但依稀可辨，
but recognizable, somewhere,
从汽车后座，某处：
back in the bus:
传来老祖父母们的声音
Grandparents' voices
连绵不断的
uninterruptedly
谈话，永在：
talking, in Eternity:
提到了一些名字，
names being mentioned,
一些事件，水落石出。
things cleared up finally;
他的话，她的话，
what he said, what she said,
某人拿到了养老金；
who got pensioned;
生老病死，生老病死；
deaths, deaths and sicknesses;
他重婚那会；
the year he remarried;
出事的那年。
the year (something) happened.
她死于难产。
She died in childbirth.
这就是那失踪的儿子
That was the son lost
死于帆船沉没。
when the schooner foundered.
他酗酒，是的。
He took to drink. Yes.
她更加悲惨不幸。
She went to the bad.
当阿默斯拿着喷剂
When Amos began to pray
对准商店里的人群
even in the store and
家人，不得不
finally the family had
把他关押。
to put him away.
"是的......"这一声表示
"Yes . . ." that peculiar
特别的确认。"是的......"
affirmative. "Yes . . ."
突然，有人倒吸一口冷气
A sharp, indrawn breath,
带着哭腔，把命运接受，
half groan, half acceptance,
意味着"生活就是这样
that means "Life's like that.
我们早就知道了（包括死亡）。"
We know it (also death)."
以他们的方式，絮叨着
Talking the way they talked
躺在陈旧的羽绒垫子上，
in the old featherbed,
心平气和地，说吧说吧，
peacefully, on and on,
就着过道里昏暗的灯光，
dim lamplight in the hall,
在餐室，一条狗
down in the kitchen, the dog
在她的披肩里卷缩着。
tucked in her shawl.
现在，好了好了
Now, it's all right now
该进入梦乡
even to fall asleep
就如平常每晚。
just as on all those nights.
-- 突然，我们的司机
--Suddenly the bus driver
踩了一个急刹，
stops with a jolt,
他随手关掉灯光。
turns off his lights.
一只麋鹿，刚刚跑出
A moose has come out of
密不透风的树林
the impenetrable wood
在我们前方，隐隐约约，
and stands there, looms, rather,
就在马路中央。
in the middle of the road.
它在靠近，用鼻子
It approaches; it sniffs at
嗅着滚热的汽车引擎。
the bus's hot hood.
以君临之势，它没有鹿角，
Towering, antlerless,
如一座教堂，高高在上，
high as a church,
如一幢房子，朴素无华
homely as a house
（或者，房子一般让人安详。）
(or, safe as houses).
一个男人，试图安慰我们
A man's voice assures us
"它绝对不会伤人......."
"Perfectly harmless. . . ."
一些乘客
Some of the passengers
小孩那样
exclaim in whispers,
轻声地，交头接耳，
childishly, softly,
"真是庞然大物。"
"Sure are big creatures."
"它其实很是普通。"
"It's awful plain."
"看啊，是一匹母鹿。"
"Look! It's a she!"
不慌不忙，
Taking her time,
麋鹿把我们观望，
she looks the bus over,
它宏伟的眼神，来自彼岸他乡。
grand, otherworldly.
为什么，为什么我们感到
Why, why do we feel
（我们都感到）一阵甜蜜
(we all feel) this sweet
欣喜若狂？
sensation of joy?
"好奇的家伙，"
"Curious creatures,"
司机说，颇为平静，
says our quiet driver,
拖长了最后一个字母的发音。
rolling his r's.
"看，你们快看。"
"Look at that, would you."
突然，他减慢车速。
Then he shifts gears.
又过了一会儿，
For a moment longer,
他将身子后倾，
by craning backward,
以便我们都能看到，麋鹿
the moose can be seen
站在碎石路上，月色盈盈；
on the moonlit macadam;
之后，灯光暗去
then there's a dim
我们闻到了麋鹿的气息
smell of moose, an acrid
淡淡的，以及浓烈的
smell of gasoline.
汽油之味。