A year after your death, dear Y.Z.,

你死后一年，亲爱的Y.Z. 

I flew from Houston to San Francisco

我从休斯顿飞往旧金山 

And remembered our meeting on Third Avenue

想起了我们在第三大街的会面 

When we took such a liking to each other.

彼此产生了强烈的好感。 

You told me then that as a child you had never seen a forest,

你告诉我，在孩子时，你从没见过森林， 

Only a brick wall outside a window,

只有窗子外面的一堵砖墙， 

And I felt sorry for you because

我为你难过，因为 

So much disinheritance is our portion.

被剥夺这么多的特权是我们的命运。 

If you were the king’s daughter, you didn’t know it.

假如你是国王的女儿，你就不会明白。 

No fatherland with a castle at the meeting of two rivers,

没有城堡在两条河流交汇处的祖国， 

No procession in June in the blue smoke of incense.

没有六月祭神时蓝色烟雾中的队伍。 

You were humble and did not ask questions.

你很谦和。没有提出问题。 

You shrugged: who after all am I

To walk in splendor wearing a myrtle wreath?

你耸耸肩：我到底是谁 

Fleshly, woundable, pitiable, ironic,

戴着桃金娘花冠走在霞光中？ 

You went with men casually, out of unconcern,

性感，脆弱，受人同情，冷嘲， 

And smoked as if you were courting cancer.

你随便地和男人们走着，出于漫不经心， 

I knew your dream: to have a home

而怀疑你似乎得了癌症。 

With curtains and a flower to be watered in the morning.

我了解你的梦；有一个家 

That dream was to come true, to no avail.

窗帘和一盆在早晨浇水的花。 

And our past moment: the mating of birds

这个梦变得真实，无济于事。 

Without intent, reflection, nearly airborne

了解我们过去的瞬间：鸟儿们交尾 

Over the splendor of autumn dogwoods and maples;

没有目的，自然反射，接近风媒 

Even in our memory it left hardly a trace.

在秋天山茱英和枫树的光辉之上。 

I am grateful, for I learned something from you,

即使在我们的记忆里它很难留下痕迹。 

Though I haven’t been able to capture it in words:

我感激，因为从你那里学到了一些东西。 

On this earth, where there is no palm and no scepter,

虽然我还不能用语言捕捉： 

Under a sky that rolls up like a tent,

在这个没有荣誉和权杖的世界， 

Some compassion for us people, some goodness

在像帐篷卷起的一片天空下， 

And, simply, tenderness, dear Y. Z.

人们给了我们一些怜悯，一些仁慈 

以及，简单地说。体贴。亲爱的Y . Z , 

P.S. Really I am more concerned than words would indicate.

I perform a pitiful rite for all of us.

附言：我确实比语言表明的更关心。 

I would like everyone to know they are the king’s children

我为我们所有人履行着令人同情的仪式。 

And to be sure of their immortal souls,

我想要每个人都知道他们是国王的孩子 

I.e., to believe that what is most their own is imperishable

并确信他们不朽的灵魂， 

And persists like the things they touch,

即，相信他们自身是不朽的 

Now seen by me beyond time’s border:

并坚持喜爱他们触摸到的事物， 

Her comb, her tube of cream, and her lipstick

此刻越过时间的界限被我看到： 

On an extramundane table.

她的梳子、她的面霜，和她的唇膏 

在一个超越现世的桌子上。