It's not so much

这算不了什么，

abstractions are available:

可以用得上抽象的方法：

the lofty period of the mind

头脑中一个高妙的句号

ending a sentence while the pain endures:

在疼痛仍持续时结束一个句子：

departures absences.

出发了，不在了。

And you are still on the dock

而你仍然在码头上，

the smoke hasn't cleared in The Narrows

烟雾还没有从纽约湾散去，

At noon I sit in Jim's Place waiting for George

中午时我坐在吉姆剧院等着乔治

Who is mopping the stage up

他正在做舞台的扫尾工作，

While two girls cry in the last row.

这时有两个姑娘在最后一排喊叫。

I think they got laid last night.

我想她们昨天晚上都得睡过了。

But who didn't? it was a spring night.

但谁没得睡呢？那是个春天的夜晚。

Probably George did too.

大概乔治也睡了，同样。

And now the ship has gone

而现在船已经开走了

beyond come sheets windows streets telephones and noises:

远远地漂来，床单，窗户，街道，电话，以及噪音：

to where I cannot go

那里是我去不了的，

not even a long distance swimmer like myself.

就连我这样的长距离游泳好手也不行。